The Darkness Beneath
by Noofle
Summary: The tenth Doctor and Jack Harkness decide to go on a holiday. However, they find something they were not expecting when members of their tour group start to die. The Doctor is suspected, but can he convince them otherwise? Set after Journey's End.
1. Old Wounds

**A/N: Hello new readers, greetings to old. I'm just putting this here to say that I am just doing an edit of this story, so if the formatting suddenly changes, you'll know why. As a note, this story is a sort-of prelude to the rest of my stories.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who...and wishing on falling stars isn't helping me get any closer to that goal.**

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**CHAPTER 1: OLD WOUNDS**

The TARDIS hurtled through the scintillating vortex, dancing across the rivers of space and time.

* * *

Inside the craft, all was calm, the centre console humming loudly. The Doctor was hunched over the console, fiddling with switches and buttons. Standing up straight, he ran his fingers through his messy hair. Staring at the wires protruding from beneath the console, he had a sudden idea. He quickly pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his coat, and set to work on the main computer of the TARDIS.

* * *

Captain Jack Harkness yawned as he entered the main room of the Time Lord ship. He rubbed his eyes wearily, and made his way across the floor, carefully stepping over the cords that littered the floor. An odd sight confronted him; one that his sleepy mind couldn't make sense of. Two long skinny legs were poking out from underneath the main console, and a strange noise was coming from their direction. Jack frowned, trying to put the pieces together. Those legs could be an alien creature that spoke with horrible keening noises? Jack shook his head. The Doctor would have told him about this.

"Doctor?" Jack asked slowly, walking forward.

The noises stopped, and the legs turned out to a lanky man wearing a pinstripe suit, who extracted himself from the TARDIS computer. "Morning Jack," he Doctor said cheerily, grabbing his coat from where it lay, draped over the stairs that led down to the door. "Good sleep?"

"Yep. What were you doing down there anyway?" Jack queried, moving towards the console.

"Oh, you know. Recalibrating the Central –" the Doctor began, but Jack cut him off.

"Not that. The other thing."

"Ah . . . I was singing."

"Singing," Jack repeated, "Sounded like a cat dying."

The Doctor grinned. "Well, there is actually a race from the planet Rushna that speaks like a -"

"No lectures. Not this early in the morning at least," Jack insisted, fiddling with some controls on the TARDIS console. The Doctor stopped speaking but the grin stayed on his face. He began to set their destination, when Jack stopped him. "Where are we going anyway?" the Captain asked.

"I thought we could go to Salideen. I heard they had some kind of alien overlord problem. Then we could stop off at -"

"No. Bad plan," said Jack, clearing the co-ordinates.

The Doctor looked crestfallen. "Oh."

"I know what we should do," Jack continued, moving around to the other side of the console. "I think we should go somewhere nice and danger free. Go on a holiday."

"Really?" The Doctor stood still for a moment, then smiled wildly. "I know just the place!"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Jack said cautiously.

"No - you'll love it," the Doctor said, punching in the new co-ordinates. He slammed a button, and the TARDIS hurled itself through the time vortex.

* * *

The Doctor locked the TARDIS, while Jack had a quick look around. The Doctor's ship had materialised in a small grassy park. Large skyscrapers, with curved sides and pointed tops, surrounded the open area. There was a low building, seemingly made of steel, only a few hundred metres off to their left. The Doctor clapped Jack on the shoulder, and pointed at the small building. Jack looked at him. "This place looks like fun," he said. "I need a break from saving the universe."

The Doctor smiled, and said, "Yep. Some spelunking will be good for us."

"Spelunking?" Jack asked, but the Doctor was already walking off, humming a merry tune.

Jack smiled and shook his head. Then, he shouted, "I'll race ya there!" The Doctor paused to reply, but Captain Jack had already sped past him. "Last one there has to pay!"

"As usual," the Doctor said to himself, but he began running anyway.

* * *

Jack was leaning against the wall of the building, whistling happily, when the Doctor caught up, panting heavily. "What took you so long," Jack laughed, slapping the Time Lord on the back.

"I went easy on you," the Doctor replied. "I know you can't stand losing."

Jack frowned, then smiled widely. "You know me too well," he said, a grin on his face.

The Doctor smirked and opened the door to the building."Ladies first," he said, gesturing for Jack to enter.

"Ah Doctor. You are so kind," Jack replied. He entered the building, his eyes adjusting to the dim light. The door snapped shut, and the Doctor moved past him, towards what seemed to be a counter. Jack walked forward, glancing at the dusty displays and souvenirs for sale. This place was definitely aimed at tourists. The Doctor will love this place, Jack thought, grinning to himself. The Doctor rapped on the desk, and Jack tore his gaze away from the display on cave systems he was looking at. He walked up next to the Doctor, just as the Time Lord pushed a buzzer. There was no noise, but within a few seconds a door opened and a lady walked out, taking up her spot behind the counter.

"Welcome to the Crusader caves. How may I help you?" she asked pleasantly. The Doctor didn't reply, and Jack glanced at him, about to say something generally patronising. He snapped his mouth shut when he saw the faraway look on the Time Lord's face. His mind was somewhere else, remembering past experiences. The Doctor shivered, and Jack decided it was a prudent time to elbow him in the ribs. The Doctor jumped.

"Huh?" he said. Jack nodded towards the lady, who was smiling half-heartedly.

"Ummm ... yes," the Doctor said. "When is your next trip?" The lady turned, and tapped a few keys on a computer that was hidden from view.

"In twenty minutes," she answered, turning back to the Doctor. "We actually have two spots left."

Jack smiled as he said, "We'll take 'em." The Doctor glared at him, but said nothing. The lady behind the desk produced some papers.

"If you would sign your name here," she said, offering a pen. Jack took it, and scrawled his name on the line. The Doctor retrieved a pen from his coat pocket, and carefully wrote his name on the line. The lady smiled, and replaced the paper and her pen in a draw in the counter.

"Please go through that door," she instructed, pointing to her right. "The rest of the group is waiting." The Doctor didn't move and Jack had to bodily drag him out of the room.

"What is with you," he hissed as he closed the door. The Doctor looked genuinely frightened. Then he took a deep breath, and was back to his normal happy self.

"Remind me to tell you about it sometime," he said, grinning weakly. "One of my worst experiences." Jack breathed deeply. If the Doctor was scared, it had to have been something really bad. Then Jack looked up sharply. The Doctor was singing, and had managed to catch the attention of the other people in the room. Jack descended the short flight of stairs, the Doctor following him. There were seven people in the room, and all of them were watching the newcomers with interest. Jack stamped on the Doctor's foot. The Time Lord coughed mid-chorus, and Jack smiled sweetly at the occupants of the room. One of them stepped forward, a forced smile on his face.

"And who are you?" he asked, contempt barely masked in his voice.

"The last two members of the group," the Doctor replied as Jack glared at the man. He was wearing a blue coverall, with various pockets and pouches all over it. An orange helmet was jammed under his arm, a forward facing light attached above the small rim.

"I suppose we should start then," the man said, counting heads. "We're all here now. I'm Tom, and I'll be your guide for today. We'll get suited up, and I'll go over the safety procedures." He turned to a row of lockers along the left wall, fitted a small key to a lock, and turned. He frowned. "Excuse me a moment. I seem to have grabbed the wrong key," he said, and left the room.

The Doctor and Jack sat down on a bench. The other people in the room had gone back to their conversations, and Jack turned and looked intently at the Doctor, who had started humming.

"What was your problem before?" the Captain asked, not blinking. The Doctor stopped humming and looked away.

"I wonder when that Tom fella is going to come back," he said airily.

"Doctor, you're avoiding the question," Jack said warningly. The Doctor turned and stared at him, and Jack realised just how alien the man sitting before him was. Jack tore his gaze away, before he was lost in the Time Lord's eyes, which had become deep pits of sadness. There was a long silence before the Doctor spoke.

"I was on the planet Midnight, on a Crusader ship. It broke down and -" The Doctor paused. "Oh, I can't wait any longer!" The Doctor stood and pulled his sonic screwdriver out of one of his coat pockets. Marching over to the lockers, he held his screwdriver at arm's length. He pressed a button, and it hummed and emitted a blue glow. The Doctor released the button, and the door clicked open. Pocketing the screwdriver, the Time Lord gave the captain from Cardiff a smug smile. Jack frowned. The Doctor hadn't heard the last from him, but had avoided his questioning for now. Jack turned, and saw Tom had re-entered the room, an indignant on his face. He was staring at the Doctor, who was rummaging energetically through the locker he had opened, a helmet placed loosely on his head. Tom cleared his throat, and the Doctor looked around, surprise clearly shown on his face.

"What are you doing?" Tom said loudly, almost shouting.

"Well..." the Doctor replied slowly, as if considering his answer.

"How did you open that door!" Tom growled, pointing at the locker.

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "You just smack the frame in the right way, and it pops open..."

"Sure it did. Why do I not believe you?" Tom advanced towards the Doctor, his face in an aggressive sneer.

Jack planted himself between the two.

"Friends -" he began, but stopped when he saw the looks Tom and the Doctor were giving him. He took a step back.

"Who are you anyway?" Tom shouted at the Doctor, who took a step forward, no emotion showing on his face.

"John Smith," the seemingly young man said tonelessly.

"John Smith! The John Smith from five years ago!" Tom roared, prodding the Doctor forcefully in the chest.

"What happened five years ago?" Jack inquired from the side of the argument, a suspicion forming in his mind. Tom glared at him, but started talking anyway.

"Planet Midnight ring any bells?" The Doctor's eyes flicked to Jack for only a moment, but he saw all he needed to know. Jack had an intent look on his face, and he gave the Doctor a wink that said he was listening very closely.

"Owned by the Crusader company wasn't it?" said the Time Lord, his face an expressionless mask.

"Yes," Tom snapped. "Until an incident branded the planet unsafe. An incident that happened while you were there."

"I had nothing to do with that. It was an accident," the Doctor insisted, the slightest hint of anger in his voice.

"An accident? Bollux," Tom spat. "Just waltzed up on the day, bought a ticket and the ship breaks down, causing four deaths. Tell me that is an accident."

The Doctor's face twisted with rage. He roared something unintelligible, and leapt at Tom, forcing him to the floor. "I nearly died!" the Time Lord shouted, throwing his fist into Tom's face. He swung back for another hit, when he was lifted into the air. He kicked and struggled, attempting to break free of the grasp.

"Doctor ..." Jack whispered in his ear.

"Don't Doctor me, Heartless," the Doctor growled, but he stopped trying to break free. Tom was helped to his feet by a lady wearing the same coveralls he was.

"Calm down man," said Jack, still whispering. He released the Doctor, who turned and glared at him.

"You don't understand Jack. He said I caused the deaths. You know I couldn't kill anyone," he said, losing his anger. He sank down to the floor, his head in his hands. "One of those deaths could have been me." Jack crouched down next to him.

"You would have regenerated," Jack said quietly.

"No. Not that time. There's only so much I can survive."

Jack looked up, and saw the rest of the people in the room staring at them. He smiled, but no one returned the gesture. Tom started to step forward, but the lady who helped him up whispered something in his ear, and he stopped. Instead, the lady began to speak.

"I'm Lora, the other guide. I heard the shouting. What's going on?" When the Doctor didn't say anything, Jack stood up and took charge of the situation.

"I'm sorry we caused trouble, but your friend Tom," Jack said, pointing at the guide, "He assaulted my friend, down here." Harkness gestured at the Doctor. Lora gave the Time Lord a hard look, then glanced at Tom.

"Tom assaulted him?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "He doesn't look injured."

"Trust me," Jack said sweetly. "Psychological injuries hurt." Lora glared. Jack sighed, and took her by the arm.

"His name's John Smith. He was involved with something on planet Midnight," Jack whispered in her ear.

She gasped quietly. "Midnight huh? That would explain Tom's mood." Lora lapsed into silence.

Jack frowned as he said, "Maybe we could leave. We wouldn't want to upset anyone."

Lora shook her head. "No, don't leave. Tom needs to learn how to put up with this kind of thing."

Jack grinned. "I'll convince my friend it's a good idea to come," he said seriously, the expression on his face contradicting his tone. Lora nodded and moved off, but her eyes never left his progress across the room. Jack crouched down next to the Doctor, who hadn't moved from his previous position.

"Doctor," Jack began, clasping the Time Lord on the shoulder. "Up you hop. Time to go." The Doctor stood up with a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, we should leave."

Jack leapt up and shook his head. "No Doctor!" he exclaimed. "We've paid for it now. We should keep going. It's not like you to give up."

The Doctor laughed, a strangely reassuring sound. "You know me too well Jack," he said, imitating the Captain's accent. He smiled heartily, and Jack found himself grinning as well. "Come on Harkness. We have a holiday to enjoy."


	2. Descent

**[edit]**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, nor do I own much else to be frank.**

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CHAPTER 2: DESCENT

The Doctor returned to the cabinet he had opened before. Peering inside, he noticed he still had a helmet on his head. He smiled, and removed a green coverall fro the locker. He held it out at arms length, a frown forming on his face. "What's this?" he asked, horror creeping into his voice.

Lora turned, and gave him a hard look."An environment suit," she said slowly, as if he should know what it was. "You put it on over your clothes."

The Doctor looked at it again. "Well yeah. But - do I have to wear one?" he complained.

"Yes. It's compulsory, along with the boots."

The Doctor gaped. "Boots!" he exclaimed. "What about my sneakers?"

"They'll have to go," Lora said, shaking her head.

"But - but ... can I at least keep my coat?"

Lora thought for a moment, than said, "Well, I s'pose you can."

The Doctor looked triumphant as he tucked the environment suit under his arm. Lora frowned, and walked off, muttering under her breath. The Doctor just caught the words 'strange young man'. He smiled at the comment, and sat down on a nearby bench, next to a lady with shoulder length brown hair. She beamed at him.

"Hey! I'm Freda," she said sticking out her hand.

The Doctor took it and shook vigorously. "I'm the Doctor. How do you do?" he replied, speaking so fast it was a wonder he didn't trip over his words.

Freda laughed."That was some display you put on before," she said, dislodging her hand from his. "Tom sure deserved that beating."

"It was only one punch," the Doctor insisted, glancing across the room at the guide, who caught his eye. He glared furiously, and the Doctor turned away, stifling a grin. "I'm naturally against violence," he began, "But that black eye ..."

"It's a beauty," Freda finished as Jack sat down next to the Doctor, already wearing an environment suit.

"I agree with her," he chuckled. "Where did you learn to punch like that?"

"Well, you pick up a few tricks over the years," the Doctor mumbled, and gave Jack an intent look.

Jack took the hint, and stood up. "Okay, okay. I won't pry," he said as he walked off. "Its not like I was asking anything personal." He winked at the Doctor, who sighed heavily.

Freda also stood up. "It was nice meeting you Doctor," she said as she moved away.

The Doctor frowned and untied his shoes. Setting them aside, he pulled the coveralls on over his pinstripe suit, remembering to remove his coat first. He slipped the boots on, and stared wistfully at his Converse trainers. "Ah well," he said to himself. "It's only for a little while."

* * *

"So, Niss. Where are you from," Jack asked suavely.

The young lady before him shrugged. "Why should you care? No one else does," she said, chewing the gum in her mouth.

Jack was taken aback, but was not about to let his charm fail. "What do you do for a living? I'm sure it's something interesting."

"Nup." Niss began blowing a bubble.

"Have any hobbies?" Jack asked, beginning to lose hope. Niss continued blowing her bubble. Jack took a cautionary step back, just as the bubble popped. The teenager sucked the gum back in, and continued chewing. Jack pulled a disgusted face, and Niss shrugged, still chewing. The Torchwood captain frowned, and Niss turned and left, flicking the finger at him on the way. Jack opened his mouth to say something, but a restraining hand on his shoulder caused him to stop. He turned, and found himself in front of a curly-haired black man, who was smiling in a friendly way.

"Don't worry about her," he said, his voice rich and deep. "It's best not to get involved. My name's Pierre by the way."

Jack pulled his gaze away from the man's afro, and smiled in return. "Jack Harkness," he replied. "Nice hair," he added as an afterthought.

Pierre laughed."I'm glad you think so," he chuckled. "Most people don't seem to like it."

"Some people, hey?" Jack agreed. "They're so ... hairist."

"I'm not sure that's a real word," Pierre said, a smile tugging on his lips.

"Well, I'll ask my friend," Jack replied, pointing across the room at the Doctor, who was clutching protectively at his shoes. "I'm sure he's ingested a dictionary at some stage in life." Jack sighed, and sat down on the bench behind him. Pierre seated himself as well.

"We just seem to cause trouble wherever we go," Jack mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Pierre asked, curious.

"Oh, just thinking," Jack replied quickly. "When do we go down anyway?"

Pierre shrugged. "Probably a few minutes or so, judging by the way some of these people are acting."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Look over there," Pierre said, pointing. Jack craned his neck, following the line of the man's finger. He spotted Freda, arguing energetically with Lora.

"Freda," said Jack, shaking his head. "At the rate she's going, we'll never get out of here."

"Mmmm," Pierre agreed vaguely. "Freda's nice and all, but she is a little - outgoing."

"Rather ... in your face."

"You could put it like that," Pierre said, grinning. "Though she is a bit easier going than Carl."

"Who?"

"Carl. Big bearded man. Constant frown. Over sized muscles." Jack spotted him and nodded. He knew the type. They were the kind of people who started fights, because they liked beating people up.

"I'm amazed he didn't try and join the fight between Tom and the - John," Jack mused, stopping himself from saying 'the Doctor' just in time.

"Me and Brittany restrained him," Pierre explained. "The lady over there, with the ponytail." Jack looked at her and frowned. There was something out of place about her, and Jack couldn't put his finger on it. He shrugged and stood up.

"Well, it's been nice talking to you Pierre," he said. "But I should get back to my friend before he causes more trouble. And get him to stop that horrible singing."

"Horrible!" Pierre exclaimed, mortified. "That is a famous opera! Composed by Viktor in the year 3240." He began humming a florid tune. Jack sighed, and walked quickly over to the Doctor, poking him in the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" he exclaimed.

"The singing," Jack explained as he sat down. "And is hairist a real word?"

"Hairist? Are you being serious?" When Jack nodded, the Doctor laughed. "No, I don't think so ..." He paused, thinking. "Although, it is kind of catchy. Hairist. Hair-ist." He rolled the word around in his mouth. "What does it mean?"

"Kinda like racist, except against hair."

The Doctor chuckled. "Well, I think I might have to use that word sometime," he said, a smile on his face. "How did you come up with that?"

"I was talking to Pierre over there," Jack replied, pointing. The Doctor looked across the room at the man, who was still humming to himself.

"Hmmm, nice taste in music," he said.

Jack threw up his hands in disgust. "Not you too!" he exclaimed, leaping up.

"Oh no. Not really. It's just a famous song," the Doctor laughed. "From the year -"

"3240. Yeah I know," Jack grumbled. "He told me."

"Not being a musicist now Jack?" the Doctor admonished. "Some people would take offence at that you know."

"Do I look like I care?" Jack stated. "I've heard enough singing today to last me another twenty years!"

The Doctor shrugged. "I think I might have to talk to Pierre," he said after a long silence. "He sounds like my kind of friend."

Jack gave the Time Lord a disgusted look as he walked off.

* * *

"Quiet down!" Lora shouted above the noise. "Your attention here please." The hubbub in the room quickly turned to silence when the guide finished speaking. "Thank you," she continued. "I must go over the safety procedures. First, stay with the group. Do not ever go off on your own. Secondly, do not do anything you were not told to do. We don't want any injuries because of silliness. And thirdly, follow all instructions by the guides. Me and Tom are here for your safety. Well, if you'll all ready, please follow me to the lift."

With a quick glance around the room, Lora opened a side door, motioning for everyone to follow her. The Doctor moved forward, leading the way for the rest of the group. Pierre had been a pleasant surprise for him, and, in some ways, it was good to get a break from Jack. He was good company, but didn't seem to appreciate fine art and music. Unless it was threatening his life. Or the life of someone he cared for. Or generally anyone at all. The Doctor walked calmly, flipping his coat over his shoulders. It felt good to know that someone wasn't trying to actively kill him. For all of Jack's bad ideas, once in a while he had to come up with a good one. Speaking of Jack, it seemed like he was calling his name. Glancing back over his shoulder, his suspicion was confirmed. Deliberately misinterpreting Jack's gestures, the Doctor waved cheerily, much to the captain's dismay. Turning back to where he was going, he managed to prevent himself from running into Lora, who had stopped to use a keypad to open a door. The door slid open, and the guide motioned for everyone to follow her through. The Doctor whistled as he began walking again, still ignoring Jack's insistent calls. He glanced around at the utilitarian white walls, and slung his brown coat on over his shoulders. He jammed his hands in his pockets, just for the sake of it. Jack sidled up to him.

"Who said you could wear your coat?" he said.

"Lora. Who said you could wear _your_ coat?" the Doctor shot back.

"Well you're wearing yours, so I thought, well, why not?" Jack smiled.

"This coat has sentimental value," the Doctor grumbled.

"Really? How much? You didn't have it when I first met you," Jack said. "I had this when we first met." Jack indicated his grey army greatcoat.

"But which era did you get it in? My coat could be many millions of years older than yours," the Doctor explained, rounding a corner.

"Thems be the mysteries of space and time," Jack replied. "But generally speaking, on our timeline, my coat is older. Plus, you wouldn't even have your coat if I hadn't saved you."

"Saved me!" the Doctor exclaimed, glaring at Jack's smug expression. "I saved _you_. If it hadn't been for me, your atoms would have been spread across space. If you remember, you weren't immortal then."

Jack's grin faded. "Yeah, well. Now I am. Get used to it. Your not getting rid of me as easily as you did at the Bad Wolf station. Left me there."

"Well - I've explained this already ... I was preoccupied. It was only one instance anyway."

"Preoccupied? Saving the world while wearing your pajamas. Yeah, okay." The Doctor grimaced.

"You know about that?"

Jack nodded, a rueful smile on his face.

"Heh. Well, it's a long story ... hey. I think we're here." Lora had stopped, and typing in a code on a keypad. Jack flashed her a winning smile, which she pointedly ignored. The door before her opened, revealing a spacious elevator with silvery coloured walls. Jack pouted.

"Attention seeker," the Doctor laughed, walking past Lora into the lift.

"Attention seeker! I'll have you know -" Jack began, but the rest of his retort was cut off when the other members of their tour group moved past him, chatting happily. The Doctor stood in a corner, and waited patiently for Jack, who was pushing his way through the crowd, glowering angrily.

"Just like you to do something like that," he grumbled.

"What? I didn't do anyfin'" the Time Lord said innocently.

"Yep. That's what you always say. Like to have the last word, don't you?"

"Oh, I don't know about that," the Doctor said, grinning. "What were you going to say anyway?"

Jack cleared his throat noisily. "Attention seeker! I'll have you know that I wasn't the one wearing the pajamas, while fighting villains. In public."

The Doctor clapped. "Oh, bravo," he laughed. "Nice one. Although it doesn't sound as good out of context." He leant against the wall and smiled happily. Lora quickly ushered the last person in, and keyed for the door to close. It slid shut, with a quiet hiss and, with a small jolt; the lift began moving, gathering speed as it moved down the shaft. The Doctor sighed happily, a broad grin on his face.

"What colour pajamas were they?" Jack asked suddenly. "Just for interest."

The question took the Time Lord by surprise. "White," he replied slowly. "With stripes."

"Serious?"

"Deadly."

"Not exactly the most fashionable clothing," Jack chuckled, visualising the nine hundred year old alien in baggy pajamas.

"Mmm," agreed the Doctor. "Not my choice though."

"Lucky that," Jack replied. "Otherwise you'll never hear the end of it."

"What? From you?"

"No." Jack shook his head. "From your next companion. Who I will tell, have no doubt about that."

"I'll make sure your friends at Torchwood chain you up in the basement whenever I visit," the Doctor admonished, waggling his finger at the captain.

"Ha ha ha," Harkness replied sarcastically. The pair lapsed into silence as the elevator shot further underground. The Doctor adjusting his brown overcoat with a sigh. Jack really got on his nerves. Next time we pass Earth, he vowed to himself, I'm going to drop him off to be rid of him. Though, in his hearts, the Doctor knew he wouldn't be able to do it. Smiling slightly to himself, the Time Lord began humming a little ditty. He broke off after a few seconds when he spotted the look Jack was giving him.

"What?" the Doctor complained. "I'm only humming."

"Music," grunted Jack.

"It just kind of slipped out," the Doctor admitted. "Would you prefer something from the twenty-first century? I can do Madonna."

"No," stated Jack firmly. "Please don't."

The Doctor shrugged. "Suit yourself." He began to rummage through his pockets, muttering to himself, much to Jack's amusement. He grumbled and produced a green pear, which he immediately handed to Brittany, who was standing near him. She took it, and stared at it dubiously. The Doctor returned to searching through his pockets. Brittany continued to stare at the piece of fruit. Then, as if coming to a decision, she handed it to Jack, who took it, and sniffed curiously. He frowned, and looked at the Doctor. A grin spread across the Time Lord's face, as he removed a small object from his pocket. It was a finger-length oblong, covered in a tangle of wires Jack stared at it, intrigued. It looked like advanced alien technology, but seemed somewhat familiar. The Doctor unraveled the wires, and showed the object to the Torchwood captain.

"An mp3 player," Jack said, confused.

"Yep," the Doctor replied. "Now I can listen to music in peace and quiet." He fitted the headphones to his ears, just as the elevator ground to a halt. "What now?" the Time Lord grumbled, crossing his arms. Jack shrugged, and began to take a bite from the pear. The Doctor snatched it out of his hand and stuffed back in his coat pocket.

"You do not want to know how long that has been in there." Jack expression seemed to say that he couldn't care less. Just then, the doors of the elevator slid open, revealing a dark space beyond.

"Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the Crusader Caves," Lora intoned, flicking a switch on the wall.

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	3. Shadows Stirring

**[edit]**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. It's as simple as that.**

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CHAPTER 3: SHADOWS STIRRING

Deep within the cave, an ancient evil stirred. Its sleep had been interrupted, and anger boiled within its mind. The creature was about to discount it as another tour group invading its lair, when it sensed the presence of something it hadn't encountered for five years. A thought occurred to the creature, that now was the time to reveal itself, and exact revenge for what had happened to it. A Time Lord. In its territory.  
It called to the others of its kind, and felt, rather than saw, the dark shapes stirring around itself. The Doctor had better watch out, as life was about to get interesting.

The hunt was on.

* * *

The entrance cave was huge, easily two football fields long. Jack was stunned by the sight. Stalactites hung from the roof, clawing their way towards the floor. The walls were ribbed, and almost white. Coloured lights flowed across the roof, glimmering in different shades of blue and green, sending eerie shadows flickering across the cavern.

"Now that ain't something you see everyday," Jack breathed, awestruck.

"It's alright I suppose," the Doctor grumbled, trudging out of the elevator after Lora.

Jack stared at the back of his head, then shrugged. There was no pleasing some people. Especially if they were old aliens that had seen almost everything in the entire universe. Jack stepped over the lip of the elevator, and sank down into the soft spongy surface of the cave floor. "Ooh," he said. "That's weird."

The Doctor turned back and rolled his eyes. "Sometimes Jack," he said. "You seem so woefully uneducated."

"And you sound like my college teacher."

"The spongy floor is actually caused by disturbances in the molecular structure-"

Jack held up his hand. "Please stop," he said. "Other people are staring."

The Doctor looked around, and noticed that no one was looking at him, but were in fact looking at Lora, who was explaining what caused the spongy floor. The Doctor was put-off, and ceased giving Jack a lecture, which gave said captain a chance to pay attention to Lora.

"And now may I draw your attention to the ceiling," she was saying. "The luminescence is actually caused by a unique type of worm only found in these caves. It is unknown how they managed to arrive here, as the only way to the surface is through the way we just came. This mystery is still puzzling scientists from around the world."

Which means the Doctor's already worked it out by now, Jack thought to himself, glancing at the Time Lord. His expression could only be described as bored. Jack shook his head, and followed the group, which had began to move on.

"Lights on, please," Lora called from the front of the group. Jack reached up and twiddled with the light on his helmet until it flicked on. He paused for a moment, and looked around, thinking that the light had dimmed.

"Stop shining the light at the glow bugs," the Doctor told him as he walked past. "It makes them dim their colours." Jack grunted in reply, but stopped looking up. He followed the Time Lord into the next cavern, muttering under his breath.

* * *

The Doctor had been in many caves, mainly in life or death situations, but at least they were interesting. This place was so stereotypical you could probably walk through it with your eyes closed. It had glow bugs, pointy rock formations and a 'breathtaking' entrance area. No doubt there would be a rock shaped like a familiar object somewhere. The Doctor sighed. He jumped when he noticed that someone was next to him.

"Whoa. You shouldn't sneak up on people like that."

Brittany shrugged. "It's a habit," she replied. "I can't help it."

The Doctor waved his hand emphatically. "A habit that you really need to break," he pointed out. "It's worrying."

Brittany shrugged again. "Yeah. We all have problems, like your friend over there," she said, pointing at Jack. "He's chronically flirting."

"He can't help it," the Doctor replied with a sly smile. "It's in his nature."

"And you," Brittany continued, looking back at the Time Lord. "You are ... different."

The Doctor waved off the question. "Yep. I get that a lot. Comes with the job description."

"And which job would that be?"

The Doctor frowned, and didn't reply.

"I see how it is," Brittany said. "I didn't mean to pry."

The Time Lord sniffed unhappily, and suddenly stopped walking. "Did you hear that?" he asked, plunging his hand into his coat pocket.

"What?" Brittany queried, confused. "Hear what?"

The Doctor withdrew his hand from his pocket, a stethoscope tangled amid his fingers. "Hold this," he said, handing Brittany his mp3 player. He clipped the stethoscope to his ears, and placed the diaphragm against the wall. He muttered incoherently, slowly moving along the rock. Jack sauntered up to the group.

"What's he doing?" he asked Brittany, who only responded by shooting him a confused look.

"You're his friend. You're supposed to know."

"Oh dear," was all that Jack could say.

"Yeah. He said he could hear something."

The captain nodded, and stared curiously at the Doctor, who had frozen, an intent expression on his face. "Doctor?" Jack queried, but the Time Lord held up his hand for silence. He adjusted the stethoscope and stood still for a moment. He yelled suddenly, and leaped away from the wall as if shocked.

"No. No! It can't be. How?" he muttered to himself, surprise evident in his voice. "Not here. Not now!"

"What Doctor?" Jack asked, worried. "What's going on?"

"Not here Jack," the Time Lord replied, a harrowed expression on his face. "It - it can't be here."

"What Doctor? What can't be here?"

The Doctor was as white as a sheet. "We have to get out of here. Now," he growled. "It's not safe."

Jack glanced around. "Oh, come on," he said. "What's to be scared of? It's a perfectly safe, dark creepy cave."

The Doctor glared at Jack, and waved over the captain's shoulder. "Excuse me," he called out. "I have a question."

Lora paused mid-sentence, and turned around, startled. "Yes?" she asked irritably.

"Is there another cave behind this wall?" the Doctor questioned, tapping the stalagmite beside him.

"Yes, there is in fact. We will be visiting it later today," Lora replied, looking away. "Now, if you'll follow me, we can move on."

The Doctor stood there, his mouth hanging open, eyes widening dramatically. "B-but," he stammered, "it's too dangerous."

Jack patted the Time Lord reassuringly on the shoulder. "Come on," the captain said. "If it wasn't safe, we wouldn't be here." Jack paused for a moment, thinking that statement over. "Actually, we probably would, but that's not the point. We're here to enjoy our holiday, and that's what we're going to do." He stuck out his chin, and marched off to join the rest of the group.

Brittany giggled. "He's so strange," she said, staring at his retreating figure. "I wonder where he's from?"

"Me too," muttered the Doctor, scuffing his feet on the stone floor of the cavern as he began walking. "He refuses to tell me."

"I still don't understand what could be so dangerous down here," Brittany said, abruptly changing subjects. "There is only one way in after all, and it' man-made. The only living things down here are the glow bugs."

"That's what you think," the Doctor muttered, rubbing a finger on his temple. "What I don't understand, is how did it get here?"

"How did what get here?"

"It. Obviously," the Doctor said, as if it should be blatantly obvious. "Don't you ever listen?" He grumbled and walked off.

"But you didn't say what _it_ is!" Brittany called out.

"A complete lunatic, if you ask me."

Brittany turned, and spotted Tom staring after the Doctor. "Well, he is a little strange, but he isn't that crazy," she stated, raising an eyebrow.

"Keep an eye on him. I don't trust him, or the other one," the guide said, tapping a finger on the side of his head. "Off you go. The group's leaving." Brittany glared at him, and was rewarded with a scowl. She sighed heavily, and walked off to join the rest of he group.

* * *

"This cave is our cathedral cave," Lora explained, gesturing around the cavern. "It is the largest cave in this system, and is believed to be millions of years old. We often hold weddings, and other group events here." The tour group looked around in awe. Jack gave the room an appreciative stare, but noticed the Doctor didn't look interested. He kept glancing down dark side passages, and muttering under his breath. Jack shook his head, and ignored the Time Lord. He was going to enjoy this holiday, even if the Doctor wasn't. What could be so scary anyway? It wasn't like there was anything that could hurt them, was there?  
"Now, if you'd follow me, we can collect our gear, and start to explore the caves. Over here," Lora called, opening a cupboard that was built into the stone of the wall. The group gathered around, and passed out the objects the guide was handing to them.

"A backpack?" Jack said when he received his.

"Yes," the Doctor replied, opening the rucksack. "Water, food, climbing gear, rope. Standard stuff like that. Haven't you ever done this before?"

"Spelunking? No," Jack stated, slinging the pack onto his shoulder. "Unless you count running through a cave as spelunking."

"Well, we have a lot of experience in that department," the Doctor chuckled. "But spelunking is a bit different to that. It involves more-"

Jack immediately shut out the incessant babbling and looked around. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves. Well, apart from Tom, who was standing near a side passage, frowning unhappily. "Doctor?" Jack asked. "Have you noticed that there is a cool breeze down here?"

The Doctor suddenly ceased talking, and gave Jack a serious look. "Yes. It's strange, isn't it?"

"What's strange?"

Jack turned and saw Brittany. She saw his expression. "What? I was listening to him talk," she complained, pointing at the Doctor. "He knows a lot about caves." Jack mumbled something grumpily.

"What's strange is this breeze," the Doctor said, licking a finger and holding it up in the air. "I don't understand it. And when I don't understand something, I usually begin to understand it _very_ quickly. Very, _very_ quickly."

Brittany looked slightly confused. "Now I don't understand," she grumbled.

"Ah. Think of us as .... private investigators," Jack said.

"Oh. Like detectives."

"You could say that I suppose," Jack replied. "Yeah. That would be a good description." He turned back to the Doctor, who was staring intently at his finger. The Time Lord's brow furrowed, and he lowered his hand slowly. He pointed towards an opening halfway up the wall with his other hand.

"It's coming from there," he said, running towards it. Jack and Brittany followed him at a more leisurely pace.

"What is so strange about a breeze?" she asked, irritated that no-one had answered her question yet.

"Well ...." Jack paused, and called out to the Doctor. "Why is it so strange?"

The Doctor stopped and turned around. "You act dumb sometimes, Jack," he said, eliciting a frown from the captain.

"Just answer the question. We aren't all insanely smart like you."

"There is only one way in, and it's man-made," the Doctor explained. "So, where is this breeze coming from? There isn't any way it could have originated on the surface. What's making it?"

"Ventilation shafts," Jack stated, matter-of-factly. "They need to pump air down here to breathe."

"No. That wasn't the answer I was looking for," the Doctor replied, a thoughtful expression on his face. "There is no ventilation. A type of moss only found in the caves act as an air purifier. It doesn't require sunlight to photosynthesise, turning carbon dioxide into oxygen. How did you think the glow bugs breathed before humans got here? Actually, it's believed that the light the glow bugs release imitates sun energy, allowing this unique moss to grow. However, I'm going completely off topic now. I wonder what's down this passage?" He peered into the opening, which was just above head height.

Brittany was stunned by the speed at which the Doctor had just spoken. "Now I'm completely lost," she said.

"Yeah. Me too," Jack replied. "Though I think he's saying that something is creating the breeze."

"Like, artificial," Brittany asked, her curiosity piqued.

Jack nodded. "Yes. Or natural."

"What? An animal or something?" Brittany continued. "To create a breeze like that you would need hundreds of animals!"

"Well, it would depend on what size they were."

"But if they were big, people would have found them by now!"

"Oh dear," the Doctor stated simply, an unreadable look crossing his face.

"What?" Jack and Brittany asked in unison.

The Time Lord turned around slowly. "There is something moving down there," he said, pointing. "Something big."

"How big?" Brittany asked suspiciously.

"Look for yourself."

"I can't see anything," Jack said, looking down the passage, which was only slightly illuminated by his headlamp. "It's too dark."

"Look! Right there," the Doctor shouted, gesturing in agitation.

"There isn't anything down there. Face it. You're imagining things."

"No I'm not, it's there," The Doctor grumbled. "I know it."

Brittany shrugged. "Well, I don't see anything. I'll see you guys later," she said, waving and walking off.

The Doctor sighed. "Yeah. You're probably right, Jack," he said. "Just an overactive imagination I expect." He turned, and followed Brittany back to the tour group. Jack walked after them, pausing halfway to look back over his shoulder.

And just for the slightest moment, he was sure he could see something in the dark opening. Two red eyes, staring back at him.


	4. First Warning

**[edit]**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Hence the disclaimer.

* * *

**

CHAPTER 4: FIRST WARNING

"Have you noticed that the breeze is gone?" Jack asked as he followed the tour group.

"What?" The Doctor turned around. "What did you say?"

Jack dismissed the question. "It probably doesn't matter," he said. "Not that important anyway."

"Oh. Right then." The Doctor kept walking, but suddenly stopped. "Ooo, shiny." Jack peered over the Time Lord's shoulder into the cavern they were entering. The walls were a milky white colour, but shiny flecks in the rock reflected the light from their headlamps. The Doctor ran his hand across the wall.

"Probably quartz," he was saying. "An extremely common mineral, but it does have a nice visual effect."

"Really?" Jack asked absently, admiring a glittering stalactite that was hanging near his head.

"Yeah. Or it could be mica," the Doctor continued. "That can often been found embedded in certain types of rock. Gives the same effect as quartz, but not quite as well known. Although, I would assume that this is quartz, considering the geological area we are in."

"Don't tell me," Jack said, holding up his hands. "You were part of a geological team that surveyed this area."

The Doctor laughed. "No. Don't be stupid," he replied. "Its the type of rock that's a giveaway. Often found in the same area as quartz, due to being made up from the same types of base elements. Very soft rock." He scratched at the wall with a fingernail, and glittering pieces flaked away easily.

"Okay. So the hint here is not to touch any stalactites, as they might fall on you," Jack said, taking a prudent step away from a hanging rock formation.

"Only if you're not careful. The things are pretty stable," the Doctor replied, rapping his hand on the rock beside his head. "They will only fall on you if you're very unlucky. Though," he added thoughtfully. "You do seem to be a bad luck charm."

"Thanks for the encouragement," Jack grumbled. "It makes me fell so much safer."

"Always glad to be of assistance," the Doctor laughed. "Watch out. There's one right above your head."

Jack sighed and walked further into the room. Lora was waiting patiently for the whole tour group to assemble. When everyone had finished looking around the cavern, she motioned for them all to come closer. "Now," she began. "Do we all know what chimneys are?" Jack was surprised when a couple of people said no.

"What's going on? Don't they have fireplaces in this time period?" he whispered to the Doctor.

"Not that type of chimney. The other type. The rock formation type," the Time Lord explained slowly.

"Can anyone here tell me what a chimney is?" Lora continued.

The Doctor looked around, and when no other answer was forthcoming, sighed and raised his hand. "Chimneys are air-filled tubes through solid rock," he explained. "Often found where water has cut holes through the bedrock. Most common in limestone caves, they are-"

"Alright," said Lora, cutting the Doctor off. "In spelunking, a common activity is to climb through chimneys, as they often connect caverns together. However, it is not for everyone. If you don't feel up to going through the chimneys, you can go with Tom. He will take you through some easier passages, but don't worry, we'll meet up again. If you want to go with Tom, you can go now." Carl and Freda left the group, and stood with Tom, who waved boredly. When it was apparent that no one else was coming to join his group, the guide shrugged. With a quick gesture, he motioned for Carl and Freda to follow him. They disappeared down a side passage, the light from their headlamps fading from view. "Right," Lora continued. "Now, since we're one guide down, I'll need one of you more experienced people to demonstrate. Brittany? You've done this before, haven't you?"

Brittany nodded, and reached up into the tube above her. "Just do what I do," she said as she hauled herself in.

* * *

"Awwww, come on! This is fun," Freda insisted, ducking under a low-hanging part of the ceiling.

"Boring, more like," Carl grumbled. "I don't know why I came anyway."

Freda sighed. Sometimes, there was just no pleasing some people. Tom was waiting up ahead for them to catch up. "Not far now," he called. "We can stop for a rest break in the next cavern." Carl grumbled under his breath, but Freda smiled gleefully.

"This is great," she said. "So exciting."

"Does everything excite you?" Carl moaned. "How can you be so happy all the time."

"Oh, lay off her Carl," Tom directed. "She's not doing any harm." The three continued to walk in silence, until they reached an open area. It was a circular cave, only about six metres across. Freda sat down on the floor, and took a sip from her water bottle, which she had retrieved out of her backpack.

"Alright, we can take a five minute break," Tom said, peering down an exit. Carl walked out into the middle of the room, but , on impulse, turned around, and looked back down the passage they had come from.

"It's a bit chilly in here," Freda said with a shiver. "There's a bit of a breeze."

Tom turned sharply, and gave her an appraising look. "What?" he asked.

"Just a bit cold," she replied, turning away from Carl who was walking towards where they had entered from.

"Oh, that's alright, then," Tom replied, turning away. "I thought you said something about a breeze."

"A breeze?" Freda said. "Yeah. You can feel it too?"

Tom spun around quickly. "A breeze is not a good sign," he yelled. "How can there be a breeze down here! It's not possible."

"Hey, no need to - uh, where's Carl?"

"Oh." Carl was gone. Tom scanned the room quickly, but there was no way anyone could hide in it. The guide checked down both passages, but the tunnels were empty.

"What's this?" Freda asked, standing up, a misshapen object in her hand. Tom took it. It was a brown fabric rucksack, with the Crusader logo stamped on the side. Well, it was only part of a rucksack. Half of it was missing, as though torn, but the tear was smooth. There were no frayed edges. Tom ran his finger along it; it was completely smooth, as though it had been made that way. Reaching inside, Tom withdrew a water bottle that was missing a top. The edges on that were the same as the bag; utterly smooth. It was as if half the bag and its contents had just disappeared.

"Now, that's strange," Tom said quietly, unhooking his radio receiver from his belt. He turned it on, but the only thing he got was static. "And that's not good." He stuck it back on is belt, and turned around. He froze instantly. Standing in the passageway was a dark shape, easily taller than he was. The room was deathly silent as the creature gave a hiss. It's outline was indistinct, but the vague shape of arms and legs was visible.

"Run!" Tom shouted, his radio in his hand again. Freda sprinted ahead of him down the other passage.

"Lora!" Tom called into his radio. "Lora! Are you there?" The only reply was static. Swearing, Tom kept running, not looking back, sure that the creature was right behind him. He ran until his lungs burned and his legs felt as though they were on fire. When he finally caught up with Freda, she was cowering behind a rock pillar, shivering from exhaustion. Tom slowed, and checked that there was nothing behind them.

When he was sure the passage was empty, he crouched down next to Freda. "It's okay," he said reassuringly. "It's gone now. You're safe."

Freda seemed to be in shock. "That thing got Carl," she sobbed. "It got Carl!"

Tom patted her on the shoulder. "It's going to be okay," he said. "We'll get through this. Here, I'll try my radio again." Tom stood up, dropping Carl's bag to the floor. He hadn't realised that he still had it, and felt chilled by the realisation of what had happened.

"Lora?" he said tentatively into the radio. "Are you there?"

There was a moment's silence, then the reply came through, strong and clear. "Tom. Is something wrong?" He almost shook with relief.

"Something's happened. Carl - he - he was - well, he's dead."

"What?" exclaimed Lora through the radio. "Did I just hear you right? Did you say someone died?"

Tom took a deep breath. "Yes. I don't know what happened. There was some kind of creature," he began, but Lora cut him off before he could elaborate further.

"A creature? What -" Lora broke off, and Tom listened tensely to the sound of voices arguing. "What kind of creature?" Lora asked after the voices stopped.

"It was dark .... and tall," Tom said, unsure of what to say. "I couldn't really tell.

"Dark and tall," Lora repeated slowly. "Any other - excuse me a moment." There was silence from the radio for a long time, and Tom thought it might be broken again. "Sorry about the wait," Lora said when she came back. "The others wanted to know what was going on. Oh, and John Smith wants to talk to you, if that's okay."

"John Smith," Tom growled, his anger rising. "What does he want?"

"Let me just check," Lora replied. Hurried voices came through the radio, and Lora's could be heard over the noise.

"He says he wants to ask you a few questions," she said after the hubbub died down. "Something about a breeze."

"How did he know?" Tom breathed, startled. "Put him on."

"Alright - John!" There was a crackling noise from the other end, and after a few seconds, another voice came through the radio.

"Tom? Are you still there?" it said loudly.

Tom gave a sigh. "Yes, John. You can talk a little quieter can't you?" he replied, mildly annoyed.

"John? Sounds so formal, don't you think?" the voice continued, softer this time. "Please, just call me the Doctor."

"Yes. Okay. Whatever. What is it you wanted to know?"

"Right, start at the beginning. What were you doing before you were attacked?"

"Well, we had just stopped for a rest in a small cave. For a break," Tom said.

"Yeah. What did this cave look like?" the Doctor asked slowly.

"It was - it was small, with only two exits. And very dark."

"Very dark," the Doctor repeated. "Sure. Now, where was Carl standing before he disappeared?"

"He was standing next to the passage we'd entered from, I'm pretty sure," explained Tom, starting to get irritated by all the little details that the Doctor kept asking about. "Because I was standing at the other exit. The only other exit."

"Mmm, okay," the Doctor mumbled. "When did you first notice he was gone?"

"Freda noticed," Tom stated. "She said something about a breeze, and that's when I got worried. Then she said that Carl was gone, and I looked and he wasn't there anymore. Doctor? Is there a connection between the breeze and the creature I saw?"

There was a long pause before the Doctor spoke again. "Possibly," he said. "That's what I'm trying to find out. Now, this breeze. Was there anything unusual about it?"

Tom thought hard for a moment. "What's the point of all these meaningless questions?" he growled. "It's a waste of time, and the more we talk, the more danger we're in! The creature could come back at any moment."  
"Please just answer the question," the Doctor hissed. "I'm trying to be helpful here."

"Ah. In that case, the breeze was cold," Tom said sarcastically. "That good enough for you?"

"Yes, that is interesting," the Doctor replied seriously. "Can you describe the creature to me?"

"Hmmm. Okay, it was tall, taller than me. It had to stand hunched over in the passage," Tom explained. "And it was dark, like - like a shadow."

"Right. Humanoid?" the Doctor asked.

"What?" Tom said, thoroughly confused.

"Humanoid. Two arms, two legs?"

"Oh, yeah," Tom said, suddenly comprehending. "Yeah it did. Except, it looked more like an insect."

"Uh-huh. Now, I think you need to come find us as - what?" The Doctor began shouting at someone who must have been standing next to him. "Shut up Jack! Now, where was I? Oh, that's right. Come find us. Safety in numbers, and all that stuff. Alright, how do you turn this thing off? Ah, this button!" The radio went silent.

Tom clipped it back on his belt. "Come on Freda," he said, extending his hand. "Lets go." Freda looked up, and took his hand gratefully. The guide hauled her to her feet. "Come, we'll go find the others. It'll be okay." The two of them walked off into the darkness, Tom with the destroyed bag in his hands.

* * *

Jack paced silently across the cavern. What had started as a fun outing, was quickly turning into a dangerous encounter. The Doctor stood still, his arms crossed, watching Jack walk backwards and forwards. The Time Lord sighed, and turned away from the Torchwood captain. He ran his fingers through his hair, and sat down on the floor. He stared at the thick notebook that lay open in his hands.

"Dark and tall. Insect-like. What kind of creature is this?" he asked himself, reading from the page. "Two arms, two legs, but like an insect. Like a shadow." He flicked through the notepad, trying to find any reference to a similar creature.

"Daleks, Slitheen, Sycorax. No, none of them sound anything like this creature," the Doctor grumbled, licking his finger and turning more pages rapidly. "How can - unless ...." His finger hovered over a page titled 'Midnight'.

"Hmmm, a dark creature. It could be," he mused. "Crusader company as well. But it doesn't explain the - oh no, no. It does. This is definitely not good. It explains everything. But how did it get here?" He snapped shut the small book, and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Jack!" The Doctor said loudly. "Over here."

The Captain stopped his pacing and turned around. "What?" he called across the cavern.

"Come here! It's important."

Jack grumbled and walked over to the Time Lord. "What's going on now?" he asked, upset that his pacing had been interrupted.

"This creature, I think I know where it's from," the Doctor explained.

Jack was suddenly interested. "Continue," he said delicately, folding his arms slowly.

"I think it was from Mid-" the Doctor began, but he paused when he saw Brittany giving him a piercinglook. He quickly lowered his voice. "From Midnight," he repeated. "But there, it wasn't so .... substantial. The way Tom described it, it has a physical form. On Midnight, it used some form of psychic connection to control a member of my tour group."

"Are you sure it's the same creature?" Jack asked.

"It's the only thing I can think of," the Doctor whispered. "There's no other explanation." He pulled his notebook out of his pocket and waved it in Jack's face. "It was the only thing in here I found that sounded anything like what Tom said." He tucked the small book back in his pocket.

"Now we know what it is, we can beat it right?" Jack questioned the Time Lord.

"Yeah. That won't work this time," the Doctor replied. "But luckily, it hasn't shown itself so far."

"It killed someone!" Jack exclaimed, ignoring stares from the rest of their group.

"It did? Oh, yes. Carl." The Doctor seemed shocked, as if he hadn't that someone had died. "That changes things. Ah, well. We can worry about that when everyone gets back." He stood up and dusted off his coat. He gave Jack a smile, turned, and took a step. He paused, one foot in the air, and looked back. "Jack," he said. "Please don't tell me that there is a breeze."

Jack froze. "Sorry to disappoint you, but there is one," he replied carefully. The Doctor lowered his foot.

"Why can't they just leave us alone? And why do I always have to do something about it?" The Doctor grumbled, taking off across the room. "Dark, tall and insect-like, and no way to identify it. And how do we defeat it. Jack, any suggestions?" He stopped and looked down a passageway before sprinting across the room again.

"Uh, we need to work out how it creates the breeze. That might help us," Jack supplied.

The Doctor snapped his fingers. "Brilliant," he called out, quickly changing directions. "That might just work. Good idea."

"Doctor!" Brittany shouted across the room.

"I'm busy," he yelled back. "Where's Lora?"

"Over there," Jack replied, pointing.

"Ah, thank-you Jack," the Doctor said, dashing towards the guide.

"But Doctor!" Brittany exclaimed.

"Can't you see that I'm busy? Ask me later."

"It's important," Brittany muttered, tucking a small object into her pocket.

"Don't worry about him," Jack said to her. "When the excitement dies down, he'll listen to you." Jack began to turn away, but stopped when he heard the sharp intake of breath from Brittany.

"Jack?" she said warily.

"Yes," he said slowly, turning around to face her.

"Has the excitement died down yet?" she asked seriously. "Because this is very important."

"Um, Doctor!" Jack called out. "You better have a way to defeat this creature."

The Doctor turned around. "Hey, don't rush me," he said. "I can't - oh." He noticed for the first time the creature standing in the entrance to a passageway. It was dark, tall insect-like and didn't look friendly.

"Uh, Lora," the Doctor whispered. "Whatever you do, do not panic."


	5. Discovery

**[edit]**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, and I'm too tired to think of a better disclaimer at the moment.**

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE: DISCOVERY**

"Everyone, back!" the Doctor shouted. "Get behind me!" The group didn't need telling twice. Within the course of a few seconds, everyone was behind the Doctor.

"Alright, what's the rest of the plan?" Jack asked, appearing at the Time Lord's shoulder.

"Um, I haven't got that far yet," the Doctor replied hesitantly, not taking his eyes off the creature. It was making no aggressive movements, just standing still, watching the group of people before it. This gave the Doctor time to take in what it really looked like.

It was tall, at least eight feet high. It didn't just look like a shadow, it seemed like it was a shadow. It's outline was indistinct; a mass of constantly shifting horns and protrusions. However, it looked insect-like, with the impression of it's body being made up of segmented plates. What was most disconcerting about the creature was it's eyes, which glowed red in the gloom. Tendrils of shadow curled off it's body, and the room was cooled by an unsettling breeze.

"Now this is interesting," the Doctor said and, against all common sense, he took a step forward.

"No Doctor! It might attack," Jack called out. "Get back here."

"No Jack. It hasn't attacked yet," the Doctor replied, still walking towards the creature. "It doesn't seem inclined to hurt me." He stopped halfway between the group and the creature. "Oh, and Jack? Can you get everyone to come closer to me."

"Why?"

"It's just that you are standing very close to a very dark passage. It may be safer in the middle of the room."

Jack glanced around before saying, "Okay, everyone to the middle of the room."

"Why should we trust you?" someone from the back of the group called out, most likely Pierre. It sounded like his voice.

"Because if you don't it could get very nasty," the Doctor said, even though his back was turned. "The kind of nasty that is very bad."

Brittany bravely stepped forward. "I think he's right," she said. "It would be safer." She walked up to the Doctor. "Don't think that will convince them," she told him quietly. "Stubborn lot." She was right, as the rest of the tour group refused to move.

"Come on!" the Doctor insisted. "It's safe. That monster hasn't moved yet." He pointed at the creature, which took a step forward, further into the light. "Oh. Well, it's not attacking." The Doctor turned back to the advancing creature. It had stopped, as if urging them to make the next move. The Doctor took another step forward, and pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. "Leave these people alone," he ordered, holding his alien device at arm's length. "Or I will be forced to hurt you."

The creature took a step towards him. "_Bluffing_," it hissed.

The Doctor instinctively took a step backwards. "Am not," he grumbled. "I could hurt you if I wanted."

"Doctor! What are you doing?" Jack called out.

"It said I was bluffing!" the Doctor shot back.

"Are you?"

"No, but yes, but .... you aren't helping Jack!"

"_Prove you aren't bluffing_," the creature growled, red eyes flashing in the gloom.

"Look, I'm busy," the Doctor told it. "Can't you wait a moment? Thank you." He turned back to Jack, completely ignoring the danger he was exposing his back to. "Stop criticising me! I'm trying to stop this creature, and you aren't doing anything to help."

"Well, sorry," Jack muttered.

"Yes. And you," the Doctor continued, turning back to the creature. "You are - oh. Where'd you go? I told it to stay there." He looked more thoughtful than worried, much to Jack's annoyance.

"_Right here ..... Doctor_," a voice whispered inside his head. "_I'm all around you_."

"That can't be good," the Doctor murmured to himself. To the room at large, he said, "You had better get here right now."

Noot one person moved.

"Uh, Jack," the Doctor continued. "I have a very important question to ask you."

"What is it?" the captain replied.

"Just for interest, umm, could you hear the creature talking, at all?"

Jack seemed confused by the query. "Talking?" he said. "I heard you talking, sure. But the creature? No."

"Oh. That makes this doubly bad." The Doctor scratched his head. "Hmmm."

"_Doctor .... which one should I take first_?" the mysterious voice inside his head asked in a low sibilant tone. "_The one you call Jack_?"

"You will take no-one," the Time Lord roared, raising his screwdriver up. He spun around, and looked back at Jack, an uncomprehendable warning in his eyes. "I'm giving you one chance to stop this."

"_Oh, but Doctor, I am so hungry_."

"Shut up!" the Doctor yelled. "Shut up and leave them alone!"

"Doctor? What's going on?" Brittany asked. To her, it just seemed as if the Doctor was shouting at nothing. "What's happening?"

"_Or Brittany? What about Lora? Which one do you care about more_?"

"Everyone," the Doctor instructed. "Get behind me." Still no one moved. "Look, I'm not crazy," he continued. "This creature, this monster, it's going to come back. It will not stop trying to kill you. Don't you understand? It's too dangerous to be down here, but we're stuck, and it will be much, much safer if you get behind me." He emphasised the last few words with stabbing gestures towards the ground. "Lora? Which way will Tom and Freda come from?"

"That way," the guide replied, pointing towards a dark passage. "But they won't be here for another fifteen minutes."

"Ah. So we won't have to worry about them, then." The Doctor tucked the screwdriver back in his pocket with a sigh. "Not a very good bluff." He scanned the room, and noticed something odd. "Pierre," he said. "Your hair - it's - it's -"

"What?" Pierre asked. "What it is?"

The Doctor gestured wildly, hands flailing around like he was trying to fly. "It's kind of, well, uh," he said, at a loss for words. Finally, he settled on saying, "Wind."

Everyone in the cave was suddenly tense. "The creature," Jack breathed. "We need to get everyone into the centre of the cave."

"No," the Doctor instructed. "It's a decoy. The attack will come from the opposite direction." He pointed, and noticed the creature out of the corner of his eye. "Or that direction," he said, placing himself between the creature and the rest of the group.

"_And now Doctor_," the creature hissed. "_Now I know you are bluffing_."

"Oh."

With a roar, the creature charged. The Doctor stood his ground until the last possible moment, waiting until the monster was alomst upon him before he threw himself out of the way, slamming onto the floor. Something cold raked across his ankle, tearing the fabric of his environment suit. He grimaced in pain, but leapt back to his feet anyway. The creature was circling him warily, tendrils of shadow clawing their way across the ground towards him. He checked around the room, and saw that everyone had scattered across the cavern. He turned back to the creature.

"_Ah, Doctor. You do not understand the full meaning of the word decoy_," it growled, seemingly laughing. A high pitch scream echoed from across the cave.

"What have you done?" the Doctor roared, dodging around the monster and sprinting towards where the scream had come from. A second creature was advancing towards Niss, who was backing away in fright. "Stay away from her!" the Doctor yelled, picking up a stone and throwing it at the creature. It flew towards the creature, but there was no impact. The stone just disappeared into the dark mass of the creature, which didn't even seem to notice the attempted attack. It was still moving towards Niss, who had now frozen in fright. As the Doctor watched, the creature leaped forward at the teenager, obscuring her from view. With a roar, the monster then launched itself at the ceiling, disappearing into the darkness. But where Niss had been standing, there was only empty space. She had completely disappeared.

"Doctor!" At the sound of Jack's voice, the Time Lord spun around, and ran towards the second creature, which was walking very deliberately towards Lora.

"No you don't!" the Doctor shouted. "You leave her alone." From the corner of his eye, he spotted Jack edging around the room, trying to get near Lora.

"Hey! I'm talking to you," the Doctor yelled, prodding the creature. "Ow!" His finger had passed straight into the creature, and it had hurt like he had been burned. He looked at his finger in surprise, then stuck it in his mouth. The creature hesitated, as if it couldn't decide who to attack; Lora or the Doctor. This gave Jack the chance he needed. He sprinted at Lora, and tackled her out of the way. The creature, left with only one option, turned on the Doctor. The Time Lord pulled his finger out of his mouth, and pointed it at the monster.

"Now, it's between you and me," he growled.

* * *

Jack picked himself up off the ground, then helped Lora to her feet. "Stay put," he told her. "I'll be back in a moment." He turned around, reaching under his coat. He quickly spotted the Doctor, who was seemingly having a one-sided argument with the creature.

"Just leave these people alone, I - no, I'm not bluffing," he was saying. "No I wouldn't - oi, that's rude. Stop that! I'm trying to - no. Don't do that! I can't get a word in here - yes. No. Hang on. No, not Jack - hey, I'm talking to you! Stop!" The creature was advancing towards the Doctor warily, looking confused by the his fast speech - if a shadow could even look confused. "I'm trying to help these people," the Time Lord continued, unfazed by the monster's approach. "I don't want to hurt you, I just want you to stop trying to kill these people. They're innocents. What have they ever done to - what? What do you mean you're not after these people? Sorry, could you repeat that? You're what! Ah. So, you're just after me. Well, that's okay then - hang on. Me?" Jack sighed, and drew his pistol out from under his coat. He cupped it in both hands, and aimed at the creature.

"Doctor! Get down!" he shouted, preparing to shoot.

The Doctor spun around. "Jack, this is not -" he began, but he never finished his sentence. The creature took that moment as an opportunity to attack, leaping forward, sweeping upwards with it's claws. It caught the Doctor under the chin, snapping his head back, and sending him flying across the room. Jack reacted instantly, firing three shots at the creature. It turned to face him, and gave a low hiss before leaping away into the shadows. Not stopping to check that the monster was gone, Jack sprinted across the cave to where the Doctor lay. Lora and Brittany followed him, although they hung back, not daring to go too close.  
"Doctor?" Jack whispered hesitantly. There was no response from the Time Lord. "Should we put him in the recovery position or something?" he asked Lora. She gave him a look that said she had no idea what to do. Jack shrugged, and rolled the Doctor onto his side. His hand brushed against the Time Lord's neck, and the captain withdrew it instantly. He looked down, and ran a finger across the scaly marks on the Doctor's neck. "It's like a burn," he breathed. Looking back up at Lora and Brittany, he said, "Well, he's breathing, and he has a pulse. Unfortunately, he's out cold."

"So it didn't kill him?" Lora asked, confused. "But it killed Niss and Carl?"

Jack shrugged. "Stuff happens," he replied.

"That's not very reassuring," Brittany grumbled, jamming her thumbs under her belt.

"I can't really do reassuring right now. This is going to get worse, and we're going to need the Doctor. To top it off, he's gone and gotten himself knocked out. The fool. He always gets himself in situations like this."

"He always gets himself in life or death situations?" Lora asked. Jack nodded and rolled his eyes, but noticed that Brittany seemed to be ignoring the conversation.

"Do you know something I don't," he queried, giving her his 'interrogator's stare'.

She turned around, a look of complete childish innocence on her face. "About what?" she asked, her voice saying that she had no idea what he was on about, but whatever it was, she had nothing to do with it.

Jack folded his arms. "You know what. Him," he replied, nodding towards the Doctor.

Brittany shrugged. "No," she said a little too quickly. Jack stared at her, but she didn't seem inclined to say anything else.

"Well, if that's all you people have to say about the matter, then I suppose all we can do is wait." Jack sat down next to the unmoving Time Lord.

"For what?" Lora asked, sitting down next to the captain.

"Either for him to come around." Jack pointed at the Doctor. "Or Tom and Freda to get back. Both, most likely." With a sigh, Brittany sat down as well. Jack ignored her, and instead looked at the Doctor. That was when he noticed that there was another burn on one of the Time Lord's fingers. "That's odd," he said quietly. The burn on the Time Lord's finger seemed to be more faded than the one on his neck, as if it was healing. As Jack watched, the burns faded even more.

"Are you sure he's okay?" Lora asked nervously.

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Jack replied uncertainly. "He's been through worse."

"Oh, I don't know. He looks pale. We should probably put something on those burns. They look nasty," Lora said. "I'm a trained medical officer, you know."

"In that case, be my guest," Jack instructed. "Whatever you feel needs to be done, you do it. Go for it." Lora rolled her eyes, and took off her backpack.

"He probably hit his head when he landed," she explained as she moved the Doctor on to his back, and checked his pulse. "Hmmm. That's weird. I think I'll need to listen directly to his heart. I can't seem to get a clear pulse."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Jack said, trying to push Lora's hands away from her patient.

"What happened to the whole 'go for it' attitude?" Lora asked, comletely ignoring him and placing her ear on the Doctor's chest. "Bloody environment suits. Can't here a thing through them." She pulled the coveralls open, revealing the brown pinstripe suit and white shirt beneath. She listened again. "Still can't get a clear pulse."

"Hey, didn't he have a stethoscope before?" Brittany pointed out. "In his pockets."

"Yeah," Jack said, searching through the Doctor's nearest pocket. "Right here."

"Thank you," Lora said, taking the stethoscope out of the captain's hands before he could speak again. She fitted the stethoscope to her ears, and proceeded to listen to the Time Lord's chest. Jack watched with growing concern.

"That can't be right," Lora muttered. "That's not possible."

"'Fraid so," Jack admitted. "Can I have a listen?"

"Sure. If you can make sense of it, I'll be grateful." Jack took the stethoscope and listened to the Doctor's heartbeat. Even though he knew what to expect, the reality still took him by surprise. Two hearts beating, slightly out of sync with each other.

"Oh, I've always wanted to do that," Jack told Lora. "But now I'm really doing it, it's so amazing."

"You mean you know about this!" Lora exclaimed, shocked. Jack gave her a nod.

"Would you believe me if I said that he thought it was a good idea to have a double heart-transplant?" he asked hopefully.

"Do you know how unbelievable that sounds?"

Jack grimaced. "Yeah," he replied, glancing around furtively. "Since the cat's outta the bag now, can you keep a secret?"

"Yes," Lora said. Brittany just nodded. Jack rubbed his head.

"Good, because I probably shouldn't be telling you this." he continued. "His real name isn't John Smith. And he's actually a nine hundred year old alien."

"I knew it!" cried Brittany.

"What!" Jack yelled. "How?"

Brittany pulled a small object out of her pocket. "I found this," she said. "His notebook. He left it lying on a rock over there. I tried to tell him, but he wasn't listening to me. I didn't know he was nine hundred years old, but him being an alien, well, I kinda worked that one out."

Jack snatched the notebook, and thumbed through the pages. "Dead give-away isn't it," he said. "After reading this, you would be sure he was an alien. Look, it's written in about five different languages on the one page. Hey, I'm in here!"

Brittany laughed. "I saw that page," she said. "Captain Jack Harkness. Interesting page, that one."

"I am an interesting person," Jack preened.

"Not for that reason," Brittany giggled. "Just for the amount of warnings there are on that page about you."

Jack scowled grumpily. "Just like him to do that," he said unhappily.

"But .... an alien?" Lora seemed unwilling to believe what Jack was telling her.

"Yes. It explains why he acts strange sometimes. The odd things in his pockets. Talking to monsters. Not being worried by monsters," Jack pointed out. "After such a long time travelling the universe, I s'pose I probably wouldn't be too surprised at what I met either."

"It just - doesn't seem possible," Lora insisted. "But how can there be any other explanation?"

Just then, the Doctor groaned. Jack, Brittany and Lora instantly looked down at him. He had opened his eyes, and was trying to sit up.

"Take it easy," Jack said, placing a restraining hand on the alien's shoulder. The Doctor brushed it away.

"What's going on?" he asked, eyes wide and wild. "Who am I? Who are you? What are we doing here? And why are you looking at me like that? No, wait. No ... no, don't answer that." He looked around the cave. "Ah, that's right!" he exclaimed, a grin splitting his face in two. "I'm the Doctor, aren't I? Oh Jack, you're here. Lora and Brittany as well. So I'm guessing we're still in the caves. Which means we're still surrounded by a horde of evil shadow monsters that want to eat us, am I right? That's good. Nothing important happened then?" He smiled happily, and stood up. "Well, since that's cleared up, I think we can start working on a plan now."

Jack groaned. "He does not comprehend the danger we're in," he muttered. "Obviously back to normal then."


	6. The War Begins

"Lets do a headcount," The Doctor said, holding up a finger. "Okay. One. Two. Three. Five. No, that's not right. Try again. One, two, three, four, six. No… no, no. Stop moving!"  
"Why don't you try writing it down," Jack suggested loudly. The Doctor clicked his fingers.  
"Yes. Good idea. Where's my notebook?" the alien asked, searching through his pockets. Brittany looked guilty.  
"Here," she said, proffering the little notepad.  
"Thank-you. Now, a – hang on." The Doctor turned around. "How did? You – Do you – oh no." Jack nodded.  
"Sorry about that," he said. "Lora too." The Doctor gave the captain a disgusted look.  
"Can't you keep a secret," he complained. "Why don't you just tell the whole world. I'm sure they'll want to know!"  
"So you really are an alien?" Lora wanted to know.  
"No," the Doctor said sarcastically. "Of course not. My friend Jack was, ah how to put it? Pulling your leg."  
"So inconsiderate," Brittany said, playing along with the Time Lord. "Huh, the nerve of some people."  
"So, a pen,' the Doctor continued, resuming the search through his pockets. "I know I have one somewhere. Why is it that whenever you need to find something, you can never find it? No, that's not it."  
"Why the hell do you have a banana in your pocket?" Jack asked, watching the Doctor pulling an assortment of objects and piling them up on a nearby rock ledge.  
"I get hungry," the Time Lord explained, setting an aerosol can down on the rock. "Although not in my sleep. That would just be weird."  
"Sure," Jack replied, confused by that last comment. He turned away from the Doctor, and looked across the room. He could only see Pierre, who was sitting against a wall, with his head in his hands.  
"Wasn't there two people before?" Jack asked. "There's only one now." Lora scanned the room.  
"You're right," she said. "What happened to Sam? He was here a moment ago."  
"I don't remember any Sam," the Doctor said with a shrug. He placed more items in his pile, including a lighter and a large stone.  
"He was very quiet. Didn't talk much," Lora continued. "Only young."  
"Like Niss, then," the Doctor said.  
"How can you be so uncaring?" Lora exclaimed. "Three people have died, and you – you just act like – like it doesn't matter!"  
"All that matters now is getting the rest of us out of here alive," the Time Lord replied coldly. "Nothing else is important."  
"Don't you care at all?" The Doctor moved around to face Lora, a deliberately blank expression on his face.  
"I care, Oh you don't know how much I care," he said, shaking his head. "But sometimes you can care too much. Sometimes, you humans can be so dumb." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I know. I live with one." Jack frowned at that comment, but refrained from saying anything. The Doctor piled the contents of his pockets back into his coat. "I thought I had more – it doesn't matter. I found my pen anyway." He began scribbling in his notebook, while Jack looked over his shoulder.  
"You've spelt Freda wrong," the captain pointed out.  
"No I haven't. Look. F – R – E – D – A. Freda."  
"That's wrong though. It should be spelt F – R- E- E- D- A. Double E." Jack took the pen, and re–wrote the name.  
"Jack! Stop writing in my book!" the Doctor complained, snatching the pen back and crossing out Jack's writing.  
"But you spelt it wrong," the captain insisted.  
""I did not."  
"You did so!"  
"You two sound like a couple of children," Brittany admonished.  
"But he is a child," the Doctor said, pointing at Jack. "He's only, what, a hundred, hundred and fifty."  
"I that case, you're a crotchety old man," Jack shot back. "Nine hundred. Good god, my great-grandmother is younger than you!" The Doctor was shocked.  
"Old man!" he exclaimed. "I am not. Check out this hair. Have you seen an old man with hair as good as mine? I didn't think so." Brittany sighed.  
"I think you should check on Pierre," she said to Lora. "I deal with these two." She turned back to the argument.  
"You're still an old man, no matter what you say."  
"How dare you!"  
"Yes, I dare. A creepy old man. Come on! You go out with people who are hundreds of years younger than you, and aren't even of the same species!"  
"Jack," the Doctor said warningly. "I wouldn't say that."  
"Oh yeah?"  
"Yes."  
"What are you going to do?" The Doctor slapped Jack hard across the cheek. The captain's mouth dropped open. Brittany took that moment to intervene. She stepped between the two of them.  
"Stop it, you two. You are acting immature!" she shouted.  
"He started it," Jack said looking past Brittany at the Doctor. "It's his fault."  
"Stop it now, or I will-" Brittany began, but Jack cut her off.  
"Or you'll what?" he asked sarcastically. Brittany kicked him in the shin, before turning around and driving her knee into the Doctor's stomach.  
"Ow," he coughed. "That was uncalled for." Brittany glared at him.  
"Shut up and listen to me," she instructed. "I want to get this straight. It does not matter how you spell the name. It's only a name. And it doesn't matter that he goes out with people a lot younger than him. He looks young to me, and he acts like he's still young and immature. So would you two stop acting like children!"  
"Sure," the Doctor said with a shrug.  
"Whatever," Jack said.  
""That's good. I don't know how you two can live with each other."  
"You get used to it," Jack told her.  
"Sometimes I want to kill him," the Doctor said at the exact same moment.  
"What!" Jack exclaimed, shocked at the Time Lord's comment.  
"Well, you do have some pretty disgusting habits," the Doctor explained.  
"Yeah? Name one," the captain spat.  
"You pick your nose," the alien replied. "It's such a disgusting human thing to do; stick your finger up your nose to remove the snot. I'm sure you eat it as well. Ewwwww."  
"Oh yeah? Well you stroke the TARDIS," Jack retorted. "I've seen you. Saying things like 'who's my girl' and 'you can do it'. It's disturbing."  
"Sure," the Doctor said. "But you snore. It annoys me. It's like you're hiding an engine under your bed or something. I can hear it all night long. Even from the console room."  
"Hm," Jack sniffed. "You are careless. Always forgetting to put your shields up. And you can't pilot your ship with any form of accuracy. Always landing it in stupid places, or flying it into things. Or that time we materialised half inside a wall."  
"But I recall, when I let you fly, you actually landed us upside down in a swamp!"  
"You didn't even check what was outside before you opened the door!"  
"That doesn't matter. Do you know how long it too me to clean all that muck out of the computer? And I had to do it while you got to gallivant across the countryside, saving 'innocent maidens' if I remember your words correctly."  
"You always act as if everyone around you isn't as smart as you are!"  
"Most of the time they aren't," the Doctor told Jack. He pulled a sheet of blank paper out of his pocket. "What do you see?" Jack shook his head.  
"Sorry. I'm not going to look at your psychic paper," Jack said pointedly. "All I wanted to do was have one normal day. But no. We end up getting chased by a bunch of shadow creature things. All because I let you choose the destination."  
"I actually wanted to go -"  
"I know! You willingly throw yourself into danger. It just demonstrates my point. You must be the most careless person - or alien - I have ever me!" Brittany stared at them, then shook her head.  
"I'll leave you two to it, shall I?" she said with a wink. "I don't want to interrupt anything." She smirked and walked away. Jack and the Doctor watched her go.  
"I'm not completely careless," the Time Lord said after a long silence.  
"Really?"  
"Yes, Jack. And I'm not blind either. I know you've been sticking rocks in my pockets all day. Now that _is _immature. And I noticed it when Brittany took my air freshener and lighter. I'm waiting for that one to play out. Also, it's not my fault I can't pilot the TARDIS. I've added so much to keep it working, it's just a heap of junk. Though I would never trade it for another ship. Never."  
"Don't let her hear that first bit though," Jack said. "She might throw you into the vortex." The Doctor laughed.  
"Nah. She wouldn't. Though she would torture me for a bit. Now, locking me out of the kitchen? I could imagine that happening."  
"That would save me many hours of work," Jack muttered to himself.  
"What?"  
"Doesn't matter."  
"Oh, right. I would hate to live on take-aways for weeks on end. All that grease has got to be bad for you. It would ruin my figure. But, I would never lower my standards enough to eat your cooking."  
"I can cook!"  
"Yeah. Although it ranges from charred to vaporised."  
"I can do pasta," Jack insisted. "And steak."  
"And that's about it. Truce?" The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned at the captain.  
"Alright. You have your truce," Jack replied with a wry smile. "But only until we get back to the TARDIS. Then, it's war."  
"Right," the Doctor said in a low voice. "If it's a war you want, it's a war you will get. You should see the things I can do with a paperclip."  
"No doubt I'll find out," Jack replied. "But it can wait. Tom and Freda are back."  
"Ah, so they are," the Doctor said brightly. "Now is a good time to work on that plan, don't you think?"

"So, what do we know about these creatures?" Jack asked the group assembled before him. He looked at each of them in turn. Freda, pale with shock. Pierre, fright evident on his face. Tom, his mouth set in a grim line. Brittany, very calm and collected. Lora, scared but determined. The Doctor, a wide grin on his face. Jack sighed. "We need to find out as much about these creatures as possible," he continued. "That might help us understand what we need to do, to get out of here."  
"There always some kind of wind when they come," Pierre suggested.  
"Yes," the Doctor exclaimed. "It gives them away doesn't it? No self-respecting predator would want something that reveals their presence. So, it must be unintentional. Personally, I think it has something to do with a rapid decay in their molecular structure, but their must be something to cause that. Maybe some kind of radiation? No, that doesn't sound right. You people would have come through here with Geiger counters years ago. Though they're not called that any more are they? Maybe they're having an allergic reaction?" It took a few seconds for the Doctor's words to sink in.  
"Did you say decay in their molecular structure?" Jack asked slowly.  
"Yes. Didn't you see them when they came into the light? It looked like they were falling apart."  
"If they're decaying or falling apart," Brittany said. "Does that mean that if we work out what's causing it, we can make it happen faster?"  
"Yes," the Doctor called out, clapping his hands together. "Accelerate this molecular decay. Make them lose their binding energy! Should just make them disintegrate."  
"That's all well and good, but we don't know what's causing it," Tom pointed out. "This plan is useless without that information. Any other ideas?"  
"Well," Jack began. "When I shot it, it seemed to hurt it."  
"Unfortunately, we only have one gun. Unless someone is concealing one somewhere," the Doctor said, giving everyone a thoughtful look. Then he frowned. "Hold on. Why do you have a gun anyway? And why didn't you tell me?"  
"Well, you hate guns," Jack explained. "But I think you never know when you might need some extra firepower." The Doctor wasn't impressed.  
"That's such a Torchwood attitude," he grumbled. "I find, that if you have a gun, people seem to shoot at you. If you don't look threatening, your enemies will often take you for questioning, from which you can subsequently escape, disabling their ship, weapons or doomsday device along the way."  
"If you hadn't noticed, I'm the captain of Torchwood three. Of course I'm going to have a Torchwood attitude." The Doctor rolled his eyes.  
"Anyway, guns won't work," he said. "Practically, all they do is fire a high speed rock, don't they? Metal comes form a rock. And I threw a rock at a creature. It didn't even notice. It just kind of, absorbed it."  
"You mean, that's what they've been doing," Freda said. "Absorbing people?"  
"Hey. Now that you mention it, it probably is," the Doctor realised. "Absorbing people. Well, not just people, but other things too. But why would they need to absorb things?" When no one answered his question, he answered it himself. "To replenish energy! They're constantly decaying, or losing energy, so they need to get more, right? What would you do in their position?"  
"If I could tell them to do something, I'd say for them to leave us alone, and do their molecular decaying thing in peace," Pierre muttered. The Doctor smiled.  
"I could tell them that if you want," he said. "Do you want me to?" He gave Pierre a wink, and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey!" he shouted. "Shadow creature monster things! Leave us alone and do your molecular decaying thing without involving us!" The echo bounced around the cavern, overlapping multiple times before fading away. The Doctor lowered his hands, and smiled again. "Well, now that we've cleared that up, any more suggestions?" Jack shrugged in response to the Doctor's question. "If that's the way you're going to be," the Time Lord continued. "I think we should try to get back to the entrance chamber. We didn't meet any creatures there. Plus, there's an elevator."  
"Are you sure this is safe?" Lora asked, obviously worried for everyone's safety.  
"No," the Doctor replied cheerfully. "But there's nothing else to do. Can you get everyone ready to move? That would be good. But first ..." He removed his coat and handed it to Jack. He then proceeded to unlace his boots and remove his environment suit. "That's much better," he said, retrieving his coat and slinging it on. "Now, where did I put them? Ah, here. I can't go barefoot, can I?" He pulled a pair of sneakers from his pocket. He quickly put them on. "That's brilliant," he grinned. "Are we ready to leave? That's good. We should go." The group of seven moved off, retracing their steps back towards the entrance cave. But, as they walked, a breeze sprang into existence, whistling down the passage behind them.  
"Prepare to run," Jack whispered, searching down the tunnel with his light.  
"What's that noise?" Pierre asked, fright evident in his voice.  
"My radio," Lora said confusedly, looking at her belt. The radio clipped on her hip was buzzing with static. It crackled, and a voice came through, low and guttural.  
"It's speaking some foreign language, but it's not being translated," Jack said. "Is something wrong with the TARDIS? What's going on Doctor?" He turned to the Time Lord. The Doctor was pale and shaking, and was leaning against a wall to steady himself.  
"Do you understand what it's saying?" Brittany asked, worried by the Doctor's change of character.  
"Yes," the alien replied. "It's speaking Gallifrean." He began to speak in the same language that was coming from the radio. He paused, and the voice spoke again. The Doctor jumped, horrified by the reply he was given. He turned to Lora. "I hope you have flashlights, because things are going to get a whole lot worse." As he finished that sentence, the lights on their helmets flickered, dimmed ......

........ and went out.


	7. Revelations

The darkness was absolute, swallowing up all light.  
"Stay together," Tom whispered, the sound unnaturally loud. "Don't move." The room suddenly lit up with a blue glow. The Doctor was standing at the edge of the group, a wide smile on his face, and his sonic screwdriver in his hand. It was that object that was lighting up the cavern. Even though it only cast a feeble glow, it's light was still comforting.  
"What just happened?" Lora asked, breathing heavily.  
"System malfunction," the Doctor explained. "The creatures are operating on a psychic wavelength. Well, communicating would probably be a more appropriate word. These communications probably interfered with your equipment. Let me guess, power transmitted from a central source? Yep. All this psychic energy zooming through the air is blocking your own transmissions. I can probably fix it, but I'll need some time."  
"Time is what we don't have," Jack muttered. "We need to get out of here." The Doctor sighed.  
"It's very blue isn't it," he said, looking at his sonic screwdriver curiously. "I've always wondered why it was blue."  
"What?" Jack asked, very confused by the Doctor's comment.  
"I mean, it could be green or something," the Time Lord continued, dropping his pack onto the floor, and digging through it with his spare hand. He still watched the glowing tip of his screwdriver. "The TARDIS is green. Well, a kind of mixture of green bits and turquoisy bits. But it's not blue. Why would anyone make a screwdriver glow blue? It's just weird. I'll have to fix it." He pocketed the screwdriver, plunging the cave into darkness again. It was only dark for a couple of seconds, as the Doctor turned on the object he had discovered in the bottom of his backpack. He held it up.  
"A torch! I had completely forgotten that we have them," Lora exclaimed, beginning to search her pack. The Doctor smiled, and began walking down the passage again.  
"But why aren't they broken?" Pierre asked once everyone had found their flashlights and caught up with the Doctor. "All the other electrical things are."  
"It's emergency gear," the Doctor replied. "They're in case anything happens to the central power source thingy, am I right?" Lora nodded.  
"Yes. Their power cells are probably good for a couple of hours at least," she said. "In most cases, that would be enough time to get out of the caves, I'm not sure if it'll be long enough for us." They continued walking, the human part of the group jumping at the long shadows formed by the flashlights. The Doctor didn't seem worried; he was whistling a cheerful tune. It wasn't long before they came to a large junction area. There were five different passages to choose from, including the way they had entered from.  
"The one directly ahead is the fastest way," Tom said, pointing. "It should take us right back to the chimneys." A hissing came from the passage he was pointing to. Everyone froze, not daring to move or say a word. A creature moved into the room, crouched low to the round. It hissed again, a low, bone-chilling sound, and the group had the impression that it was looking around. It didn't make another move, as if it was unsure of what to do.  
"It can't see us," breathed Pierre, breaking the silence. "It doesn't know we're here." The monster immediately turned to face him.  
"They hunt by sound!" the Doctor shouted, as soon as he came to that conclusion. His call drew the monster's attention. He waved his arms around a bit. "Hey! Over here! I'm talking to you!" He immediately dashed down the nearest, the creature bounding after him.  
"Doctor! Don't be stupid!" Jack yelled, following at a safe distance. He could hear footsteps from behind him, and when he looked, it was the rest of the tour group. "Doctor!" Jack called again, peering into the gloom ahead. A muffled shout came from in front of him, and a torch beam shone in his eyes.  
"Jack?" the Doctor whispered. "I'm glad you lead the charge, and not some idiot human. Keep quiet, and it won't know you're there." He held his fingers to his lips, and waved for everyone to follow him. For once, they did. He led the group into a medium-sized chamber. The creature was in the middle of the cave; it's back to them. Pierre gasped, and it turned around with a growl. Jack quickly looked around the chamber, and sighed.  
"Oh, what the hell. It won't kill me," he said, and charged at the creature with a shout. It took a few steps back and roared loudly. Jack kept running, and rammed his shoulder into the monster, tackling it backwards…off a cliff.  
"Jack!" the Doctor roared, horrified. "You idiot!"

Jack struggled with the creature as he fell through the air. The fall wasn't that big, but time seemed to slow and elongate; stretching out longer than it should have. Jack heard the Doctor's shout, and kicked himself away from the monster. It tumbled downwards at a faster rate, shrieking as pieces of it tore away. Clumps of shadow flicked past the captain, searing him where they touched exposed skin. His torch spun away, plunging the falling pair into gloom. Jack tumbled and spun through the air, unable to prepare himself for the impact. He spotted the creature out of the corner of his eye as it hit the ground, shattering into hundreds of individual pieces. Noticing that the ground was extremely close, Jack swore. "Ah, shi-"

"Jack!" the Doctor shouted again. "Are you okay?" he stood at the edge of a deep crevasse, the tips of his sneakers sticking out over the lip of the hole. He was searching frantically with his flashlight, but the darkness of the crevasse was swallowing up the feeble beam. Tom put a restraining hand on the Time Lord's shoulder.  
"Doctor, no-one could have survived that fall," the guide said. "It's just not possible."  
"You don't know Jack as well as I do," the Doctor replied dismissively. "Something as small as falling – no, jumping – off a cliff won't stop him. He has to be the hardest person to kill that I have ever met. He'll survive this. Jack! Someone get a rope! Tie it to something." Lora pulled a coil of rope out of her pack and knotted it around a stalagmite, and lowered it over the lip of the crevasse. The Doctor glared at Tom, before grabbing the rope and leaping over the edge.

Jack groaned. Everything hurt. Especially his nose. It took him a few seconds to work out where he was, but when he realised, he jumped to his feet with a start. His feet slid on the uneven floor, and when Jack looked down, it wasn't rock he was standing on. It looked more like jelly. Dark, shadow-like, opaque evil looking jelly. "Urk," he grumbled. "It's all over me." He attempted to wipe the jelly off, but it stuck to his fingers. It wasn't really a jelly; it had the consistency of maple syrup. "That is disgusting."  
"Jack?"  
"Doctor!" There was a splash somewhere off to Jack's right, and he turned and waded through the ankle deep jelly towards the sound. "Is that you?"  
"Jack!" The Doctor came into view, the jelly sucking at his feet. "It's great you're here."  
"I'm glad you missed me," Jack said, pulling one of his feet out of the muck covering the floor.  
"Leys get this show on the road," the Doctor replied, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "Jack, you better get up there and assure everyone that you're not dead. I'll follow in a moment. I have something I need to clear up first." He scooped some jelly off the floor and sniffed it, wrinkling his nose. Jack found the rope and was about to climb up, when he saw what the Doctor was doing.  
"Doctor!" Jack exclaimed. "Are you licking that – oh, that is gross." The Doctor grinned.  
"It tastes kind of like blackberry jam," he said, licking the remains of the creature again. "With a hint of boysenberry, and strangely enough, a slight after taste of cheese." He had another taste. "Yeap. Blue vein cheese. No doubt about that." Jack rolled his eyes and hauled himself up the rope, soon disappearing into the gloom above. The Doctor spat the jelly out, wiping his tongue with his finger. "I hate blue vein cheese," he muttered, retrieving a zip-lock bag out of his coat. He scooped some black jelly into the bag, pausing when he noticed that there seemed to be less than before. He resealed the bag, and jammed it back into his pocket.  
"Doctor!" Jack was really starting to get on his nerves.  
"Hang on, give me a moment!" The Time Lord picked up some more jelly. "I think it's time for a little experiment," he muttered to himself, holding his torch between his teeth. He hooked his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket with his spare hand, and extended it out to its full length. The Doctor found a nice stretch of bare rock, and let the jelly slop onto it. He transferred his torch back to his now empty hand, and scanned the black goop with his screwdriver, frowning at the results. "That can't be right. Maybe something is wrong with it?" he commented, as he smacked his sonic screwdriver against the ground. He repeated his scan, his frown growing deeper and one of his eyebrows raising of its own accord. He stared at his screwdriver before pocketing it.  
"Doctor!" The call was more insistent now.  
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" the Doctor hollered, running his fingers through his hair in irritation. He sighed and stood up, taking another look at the remains of the creature he had been observing. "Wha –" His expression froze halfway through the word, his eyes wide. "That shouldn't be possible," he grumbled after a few seconds. The jelly was melting away; becoming more and more like a liquid. It then defied the laws of physics by flowing up a slope and disappeared into the shadows.  
"Where are you going?" The Doctor searched the shadows with his flashlight, but the jelly had gone. He turned, glanced once at the melting remains of the rest of the creature and decided it was time to leave. Grabbing the rope, he braced his legs against the wall of the cavern wall and clambered up as fast as he could.  
As soon as his head appeared over the lip of the crevasse, Jack grabbed his collar and hauled him up. "Where the hell have you been," the captain growled, depositing the Time Lord on the floor of the cave. The Doctor picked himself up off the ground and brushed the dirt off his pants.  
"I have been solving mysteries," he said, coiling up the rope. "And there is something very strange about these creatures." He dumped the rope on the ground and began pacing.  
"What's weird is that these creatures are unlike anything I've met before," he began, his hand running through his hair. "Most creatures in this universe are carbon-based, like humans or Time Lords. There are a few odd ones, like Shaylens, which are silicon-based or the Wire, which was an electrical being. But these shadow creatures are hydrogen-based, or at least, that's what my screwdriver said. And it did kind of taste like said chemical element once you got past the blackberry jam flavouring." Jack rolled his eyes. "Anyway," the Doctor continued. "It's only two thirds hydrogen. The other third is oxygen."  
Brittany realized what the Doctor was trying to say. "You mean-"  
"Yes," the Time Lord confirmed. "Dihydrogen oxide. H2O. Or, as it is more commonly known, water. The creatures are made of water."  
"So, we could just make them evaporate, yeah?" Brittany asked, thinking faster than everyone else in the group. The Doctor gave her a huge grin.  
"Exactly," he exclaimed happily. "And what evaporates water?"  
"Heat? Light?" Jack supplied, catching up with the Doctor and Brittany's speedy rate of conversation.  
"Sunlight," The Doctor said. "But I have no idea how we're going to find sunlight down here. If the flashlights were more powerful, we might be able to use their heat, but they're nowhere near strong enough." Jack sighed.  
"Great," he grumbled. "Another plan that won't work." Brittany glared at him, her face lost in though for a few seconds. Then she suddenly brightened up.  
"I have an idea," she said loudly. "I think we should head back to the entrance chamber. We could see if the lift is working, and even if it isn't, there's a lot of light there, so we wouldn't need to use our flashlights."  
"I think that's a good idea," Lora agreed. "It'll give us something to do, at least. What does everyone else think?" Jack shrugged, and looked at the Doctor. The Time Lord didn't notice; he was too busy staring at Brittany, his mouth open.  
"How did she know?" he muttered. Jack punched him the shoulder.  
"You'll get left behind," he laughed, following Lora, who was leading the way down a side-passage. The Doctor frowned, and began walking.


	8. A Plan?

"Well, here we are. Now what?" The Doctor ignored Lora's question and made a point of checking the elevator.  
"Not working," he muttered. "No surprise there." He considered checking it again with his sonic screwdriver, but decided against it. A second check wouldn't reveal anything new. He sat down on the floor, and stared at the ceiling. There was something at the back of his mind, a very important fact that he had forgotten, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Now, this sample he had taken was much more important. He pulled it out of his coat pocket, and inspected it closely. It looked like jelly, if you thought jelly should be black and taste like jam. For once, the Doctor had no idea of what he was dealing with. There was a pack of shadow creatures that were made of water and wanted to eat everyone.  
"Doctor? Any plans yet?" Jack called out from across the room. The Doctor shook his head.  
"Nothing. Zero. Nada," he replied, still staring at the jelly. He dropped the bag on the floor and began to pull out his sonic screwdriver, when he saw what was happening to the remains of the creature. The screwdriver dropped back inside his pocket, forgotten. The jelly in the bag was disintegrating. As soon as it had been hit by the light, it had begun falling apart. "Oh yes," the Doctor cooed, his eyes glowing as the missing fact sprang back to his mind. "Sunlight. The glow bugs imitate sunlight. And sunlight hurts the creatures. Oh, yes. Yes!" He leapt up, the bag in his hand. Jack smiled as the Doctor approached him at a full sprint.  
"What've you found," the captain asked, breaking off mid-sentence from his conversation with Brittany. The Doctor waved the rapidly disintegrating jelly in his face.  
"Sunlight!" he exclaimed. "I'd forgotten. The glow bugs are releasing a form of energy that mimics sunlight. Or rather, the radiation that makes up sunlight! It's breaking down the essence of the creature. There is a way to beat these things!" Lora and Pierre walked over to the Doctor, Jack and Brittany when they heard that comment. "All we need to do now is get the creatures to come into the light!"  
"And how exactly do you propose we do that?" Pierre asked, a hopeful tone to his voice. The Doctor opened his mouth, but found he had nothing to say. He shut his mouth with a frown.  
"If they don't like light, we could use light to force them to go where we want," Brittany suggested, her hand fiddling with her collar. The Doctor stared at her, watching her finger the silver chain around her neck. There was something familiar about her, but he couldn't work out what it was. She looked normal, but there was a feeling that she knew more than she was letting on.  
"It sounds like the beginnings of a plan," the Time Lord stated after an awkward silence, still watching Brittany warily. "But it needs something more. It needs…" He looked at Jack with a horrible grin on his face. The captain shook his head.  
"Oh no. No. I'm not going to be dragged into this again," he said, taking a couple of steps backwards. "No way."  
"Come on, it'll be fun. Just a little dash down a few dark, scary corridors with hordes of monsters chasing you, and I'll be happy. For old times sake?" The Doctor smiled and winked at Jack. The captain considered it for a few seconds, giving the Doctor's insane grin an appraising stare.  
"If I agree, does that mean…" He let the question trail off.  
"Yep." The Doctor nodded vigorously. "We'll go to Cardiff. You can go back to your old life; I'll go my separate way. Except for holidays. You can't expect me to miss April Fools, can you?"  
"Alright, I'll do it," Jack sighed, checking his watch. "If we hurry, we can be home in time for coffee. Or tea, as the situation demands." The Doctor smiled, and punched him in the arm playfully.  
"There's the old team spirit," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "You know how much I love a good cup of tea. Now – hold on. Where are Tom and Freda?" Brittany gave an indifferent shrug in answer to the Time Lord's questioning look.  
"They said they were going to keep a lookout or something like that," Lora piped up, pointing at a passageway off to her left. "I think they went that way."  
"Tom and Freda?" the Doctor repeated slowly, his brow creasing. Lora nodded.  
"That seems a bit out of character," Jack mused, not surprised when the Doctor sprinted across the room and down the passage. "When we first met up with them, Freda was scared out of her wits."  
Brittany poked him. "You're being paranoid."  
"It just seems odd, that's all," he replied. The pair trailed off into silence, and Jack checked his pockets again. He spotted Brittany fiddling with the chain around her neck again. He pointed at it. "What's that?"  
She withdrew her hand. "This? It's nothing, just a necklace. What was it you were saying before about coffee?" she asked, quickly changing the subject. Jack decided to let it drop.  
"The Doctor promised he'd drop me back home, and I have a, well, workmate that makes the best coffee in existence," he said. "Back in Cardiff, that is."  
Brittany smiled. "Cardiff? Sounds outlandish. Where's that?"  
"On a planet a long way from here. I doubt you've heard of it."  
"Go on, try me," Brittany instructed, crossing her arms.  
"All right then. Earth. Planet Earth," Jack said, locking eyes with her. She laughed heartily.  
"Earth! Do you even know where you are? Earth is only a one week freighter trip from here." She seemed suddenly thoughtful. "I've never met anyone from Earth before. No one really visits here. Not much to do, you see. Just a little backwater planet with far too many banana plantations. Earth." She sighed. "I've always wanted to visit. Never been off planet before. You and the Doctor; do you travel around a lot?" It was Jack's turn to laugh.  
"More than you would believe," he chuckled. "But every journey must have an end, and I think it's about time I went home."  
"Well, if you're going back to Earth, would you mind if I tagged along for a bit?" Brittany asked, leaning against a smooth sided stalagmite.  
"What?"  
"Earth. Would you mind if I came with you?" Jack shrugged.  
"I wouldn't mind the company, but the Doctor gets a little bit tetchy about inviting too many friends aboard his spaceship. Anyway, don't you have family who would miss you if you just took off?"  
Brittany shook her head sadly. "No. I'm an orphan. Never had a family. All I've got is my job, and to be honest, I hate it. I hate this whole stinking planet." She sighed heavily, and sat down. "I just want to make a life for myself. Go somewhere new, and be someone different. Do something with my life."  
"I'll see what I can do, okay?" Jack said cheerfully, clapping her on the shoulder. The Doctor ran back into the room, his flashlight clutched in his hand.  
"Something is going on here, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it," he shouted, grabbing Jack by the shoulder, and dragging him off. When the two were out of earshot, the Doctor said, "Brittany. Have you noticed anything weird about her?"  
"Weird? I'm not exactly sure what –"  
"Nothing odd at all?" the Doctor asked, glancing at Brittany. "I'm probably just jumpy. It's just that whenever I look at her, I get this feeling that…ah, doesn't matter." He looked back at Jack. "You ready for a good jog?"  
"As ready as I'll ever be," the captain answered jovially. "Where be those murderous beasties?" The Doctor smiled widely and led the way back to the rest of the group.

The six humans and one alien walked in silence down a long rocky tunnel. The Doctor had explained his plan, and Lora, Pierre and Brittany believed it to be a good idea. Tom and Freda, however, had argued vehemently against leaving the safety of the light, but eventually had given in once they realized that there was no other plan they could use. The way Tom and Freda were acting was worrying the Doctor. They had completely refused to come into the entrance chamber, and didn't talk to anyone else. In fact, they hardly talked at all. Lora had chosen the route they should try and force the creatures down. The tunnel they were walking along now was very long, but it had no exits. That left the creatures only one direction to go. The only problem was getting them in the passage in the first place. The Doctor sighed, and stared at his flashlight. He was pretty sure that the creatures were afraid of light, since it harmed them, but the beams the torches gave out weren't that bright.  
Lora motioned for everyone to stop for a few seconds. "What is it?" Pierre whispered.  
"I thought I heard – it was nothing," the guide breathed, relief evident in her voice. She started to walk again, and the rest of the group followed her. Jack ducked under a low piece of ceiling and tapped on the Doctor's shoulder.  
"You never said I would be running a marathon," he complained quietly.  
"You not up for it?" the Doctor asked with a grin on his face. Jack frowned.  
"I never said that."  
"A bit out of shape, are you? It's that Torchwood. Sitting around all day behind a desk, staring at a computer-"  
"I don't sit there all day," Jack sniffed unhappily. The Doctor snorted.  
"An office job," he said harshly, rolling his eyes. Jack pouted, but decided not to complain any more. The Doctor smiled, knowing he had won, and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. The captain watched as the alien attacked his flashlight with the screwdriver, before jogging to catch up with Brittany. The Doctor watched him go and tucked his screwdriver back in his pocket. Know all he had to do was think of a way to attract the creatures to the ambush. They hunted by sound, so maybe if he got Jack to sing really loudly, they might be attracted to it. The Doctor laughed. Jack would probably take that as a complement. Brittany shot him a strange look over her shoulder, and the Doctor realized he had just laughed out loud. He gave her a reassuring grin, and went back to perfecting his plan.

"So, what you're saying is that we should all run around screaming?" Brittany asked, raising an eyebrow. The Doctor nodded.  
"Yup," he said simply. "Look, the creatures hunt by sound, right? So, if we make enough noise, they'll come find us."  
"And that's when I run down the passage we just walked up?" Jack pointed at the dark tunnel. The Doctor nodded.  
"Yup," he said again, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the wall. Lora had led the tour group to a high, vaulted chamber filled with pillars of rock. There was an open area, approximately fifteen metres across, and this was where the Doctor's plan was being discussed.  
"You're completely mad, you know that?" Lora said with a sigh.  
"Yup," the Doctor replied with a grin, his flashlight in his hand. The Doctor was back to his usual danger loving self. Jack smiled. These past few days he had been acting out of character, so it was good to see him back to being how he normally is. The captain wandered away from the main group a little bit, walking around between the pillars. He was about to let a horde of ravenous monsters chase him down a long tunnel where there was no-where to hide. It sounded like the Doctor's idea of a good time. There was a noise from the shadows and Jack pressed himself flat against a stone pillar. He kept silent, but couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from; the Doctor explaining what to do in the background was too loud. Whatever was making the noise was coming closer. The noise sounded almost like footsteps.  
"Freda!" Jack exclaimed when she stepped into the light. "You gave me a bit of a fright there." Freda smiled, but the expression just seemed wrong, as if it didn't fit her face.  
"Well, I didn't mean it," she said in a voice that sounded like that was exactly what she meant to do. Jack shot her a charming grin, and stuck his hands in his pockets.  
"Yeah, okay. Well, I should get back to the Doctor. We've got a plan to put into action and all," he said, making to step around the pillar. Freda let the smile fall off her face.  
"You're not going anywhere, Jack," she spat, drawing a gun from behind her back.  
"I'm sure we can just talk about this as normal, civilized people," Jack said carefully, slowly raising his hands. "There is no need – hold on, where did you get that gun?"  
"Check your pocket." Jack quickly patted down his coat.  
"That's my gun!" He frowned. "I really shouldn't leave my gun in the outside pocket. That's just asking for trouble."  
"It's a bit too late for regrets now," Freda growled, her finger curling around the trigger. Jack held out his hands.  
"Hang on. Don't you think you're being a little bit too hasty?"  
"No." She pulled the trigger. Jack looked down in shock at the blood blossoming out from the wound.


	9. Betrayal

The Doctor watched as Jack stumbled out into the center of the chamber, and collapsed to the floor. The Time Lord sprinted across the room, reacting faster than anyone else in the tour group. He crouched by Jack's side, and instantly noticed the gunshot wound in his chest. The Doctor rolled his eyes and grabbed Jack's wrist, making to check the captain's pulse.  
"Doctor, step away from the captain." The Time Lord slowly stood up and turned around, coming face to face with a gun.  
"Oh," he muttered, not really surprised at all. "Why does this always happen to me?" Freda grinned demonically, clutching the gun with both of her hands. "Doctor, surely you realize that if you want the creatures to come, all you need to do is ask." The Doctor noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, and frowned. Red glowing eyes appeared in the shadows between pillars, and he counted at least a dozen pairs.  
"I think that rules out the running around and screaming," he heard Brittany mutter. Turning back to Freda with a grin, a thought jumped to the front of his mind.  
"Are you going to kill me?" he asked in a conversational tone of voice, his hands still sticking up in the air.  
"Yes Doctor," Freda answered, steadying the revolver in her hands.  
"Well, if I'm going to die, like most days of my life, I just want to know why? Why would you murder an innocent person?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips, waiting for an answer. Freda watched him warily.  
"You are not innocent. How can you claim to be innocent when it is you that caused the creatures to hunt us?" she hissed angrily. Her voice changed and took on a reptilian quality. "You have hurt me Doctor, and you cannot be allowed to live for that."  
"Right, sure," the Doctor said happily, inspecting his fingers as if they were more interesting than the life-threatening situation he was in. "Just one more question then; I can see you're in a hurry. Have you ever fired a gun before today?"  
"And what has that got to do with anything?" Freda growled. The Doctor shrugged. "In answer to your question, Doctor, no. But it does not make a difference." The Time Lord grinned.  
"Oh, but it does make a difference, It makes all the difference in the world, because, you see, over the years, I have gotten very good at staying alive." As he finished saying that, he dove behind a pillar of rock. A gunshot rang out, but the bullet missed him completely. He pressed his back up against the rock, and checked that all his extremities were still attached. Once he was sure they were, he stuck his head around the pillar, but quickly withdrew it when another shot rang out.  
When the echoes died down, he could hear Freda's footsteps coming closer. "Doctor, you're only delaying the inevitable. Come out, and I promise it will be quick. Otherwise…" One of the creatures growled, demonstrating just what would happen if he didn't come out. The Doctor sighed. Why did the whole universe seem to want to kill him?  
"I'm comfortable right here, if it's all the same to you," he said, searching his pockets for anything that could be useful in fighting off about fifteen shadow creatures and a crazed lady with a gun. Unsurprisingly, he didn't find anything remotely helpful. "Looks like I'm going to have to do more of what I do best," he mumbled to himself. "Running." He prepared to dash for a piece of cover further away from Freda but paused, halfway between sitting and standing, leaving himself in an awkward position. He watched, slack jawed as Brittany sprinted across the room, yelling unintelligible words. There was an object in both of her hands, and the Doctor recognized it as his air freshener and lighter. "Oh, that is brilliant," he exclaimed, standing up as she passed him. He stepped out from behind his cover, and watched as flames leapt towards Freda. She shied away from the fire, dropping the gun and raising her hands to protect her face from the blaze. Brittany paused, and then lowered her weapon, her mouth dropping open in surprise.  
Freda screamed and threw her head back in anguish, angry red burns on her arms and face. Red light streamed from her eyes, accompanied by a howl that was a sound that no human should be able to make. Freda's head lowered and she looked straight at the Doctor. She blinked and her eyes returned to normal, a light yellow-brown colour. "Help me," she breathed, so quiet the Doctor had to strain his ears to catch the words. She collapsed, and he ran across the room, catching her before she could his the ground and cradling her head in his arms.  
"It's okay," he said soothingly. "It's alright. It's gone now. I won't let it hurt you." Freda seemed relieved by his words, but Brittany didn't understand what he meant.  
"I couldn't fight it," Freda stuttered, wrapping her arms around the Doctor tightly. "It was so strong. Full of anger and hate and destruction." He stroked her hair.  
"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I'm so sorry for what has happened. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have come here in the first place. I never meant for this to happen." Freda smiled weakly.  
"I know," she whispered quietly, so only he could hear. "And I forgive you." She closed her eyes, and died in Doctor's arms. He stared down at her in shock, feeling his anger rising. Wherever he went, people died. He was angry with himself, for letting her die. He should have saved her, but he didn't.  
"Doctor," Brittany hissed, snapping his mind away from those angry thoughts.  
"What," he snapped, lying Freda on the floor of the cavern.  
"What happened? What happened to Freda?" Brittany asked, giving him a concerned look.  
"She died, and I couldn't save her. One of those creatures controlled her, and made her attack her friends, and I couldn't save her!" Brittany recoiled back in shock.  
"There was nothing you could have done," she said.  
"That's exactly the point! I couldn't save her," he growled angrily. "I let her die." Brittany let the topic drop, and stared at the aerosol can in her hand. Shaking it slightly, she was pleased to find that it was still half full. "Hold on," the Doctor said suddenly. "If Freda was possessed, what about Tom?" He stood and spun around. Tom grinned, Jack's gun in his hands.  
"Whoops," he said. "Too slow." The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver.  
"Leave that human alone," he roared, pointing the screwdriver at Tom. "You have one warning. Leave that man!"  
Tom laughed. "Why should I? Who are you to order me around, Doctor? You know nothing about me, while I know everything about you, Time Lord."  
"I'm warning you, this is your last chance. Release that man," the Doctor ordered. Neither of the men were willing to back down. Brittany took a step forward, but the Doctor almost imperceptibly shook his head. "No," he told her. "He'll shoot you, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you died as well." Brittany frowned, but stepped backwards.  
"We wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, would we?" Tom said. "Because Doctor, this time I wouldn't miss." The Doctor brow furrowed.  
"Wouldn't miss…there's only one of you. You are only one creature," he realised. Tom nodded.  
"Yes Doctor. One mind, with a dozen bodies."  
"A collective consciousness! Oh, but that is brilliant. That is absolutely brilliant," the Doctor exclaimed. "It's been a few years since I came across a collective entity. That's why the equipment wasn't working. Not because you were communicating among multiple beings, but because you were sending electrical signals to your other bodies. But that means that you must have one central body, hmm? Where is it? Which one is it?" He looked around at all the creatures watching him from the shadows. "One of these?"  
"I dislike your voice Doctor. It is very tiring," Tom laughed, steadying the gun in his hands, preparing to shoot.  
"Don't you dare." Tom turned to see Jack pick himself up off the ground and stagger forward. "I can't let you do that."  
"Why won't you just stay dead!" Tom screamed firing two rounds into Jack's chest. The captain staggered back and stared at the gunshot wounds in his chest, before sighing and collapsing to the ground. Tom turned back to the Doctor, who had his flashlight in his hand.  
"I don't want to hurt you," the Time Lord said sadly, locking gazes with the possessed human. "But if you don't stop now, I will be forced to act." He raised the flashlight and pointed it towards Tom.  
"That won't hurt me. You know that it won't. You're bluffing," Tom hissed, aiming the gun at the Doctor again. "And this time, you will die for it."


	10. Weakness

"You know, I really hate it when people stick guns in my face," the Doctor said calmly. "You had your chance. No you've just lost it." He turned the flashlight in his hand on, and it glowed with a bright, white light. Tom screamed when it touched the skin on his face, blisters, angry and red, welling up on his cheek. His skin crackled and peeled back, while the Doctor looked on impassively. Brittany shielded her eyes and looked away, unable to bear the sight of the guide charring to death. Tom fired the gun in desperation, but the Doctor ignored the shot, redirecting the beam of the flashlight to the guide's hand. He howled and dropped the revolver, clutching at his burning hand.  
"Please," he breathed, his voice cracking. "Please stop this. Please have mercy."  
"You had one chance," the Doctor growled, not relenting his assault. "You refused to listen. There are no second chances. You had one warning, and you ignored it." The guide roared with agony as more burns sprang up all over his body, searing through his clothing. The Doctor glanced over his shoulder to see Lora and Pierre averting their eyes from the howling man. He turned back to Tom, and watched as he fell into a pile of ashes on the cavern floor, which disintegrated within a few seconds. He let the light from the torch die down, before turning around. Brittany was watching him, a concerned look on her face. Lora and Pierre turned around, giving him looks of pure terror. Lora got a grip on herself, and stood up to confront the Time Lord.  
"You killed him!" she shouted, striding up to the Doctor.  
"It had to be done," he replied, pocketing the flashlight.  
"Did it? That's just … just murder!" Lora yelled, pounding on the Doctor's chest with her fists. He put his hands on her shoulders.  
"There was no other way. He would have killed you all," he explained carefully, as Lora dropped her arms down by her side. "That wasn't Tom. It was one of those creatures, controlling him."  
"But Freda! You changed her back! You couldn't do it for Tom?" Lora was sobbing now.  
"Freda was fighting against it but Tom…Tom was blinded by hate and anger and mistrust and…and I couldn't help him. He wouldn't listen. He wouldn't fight back against the creature. He let it control him and … and… Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I really am." The Doctor wrapped his arms around Lora. "It'll be okay. I'll get us out of this, I promise. Okay?" He looked into the young guide's eyes. "Okay?" She nodded, and wiped her nose. He looked at her one last time before running over to Jack, who still lay on the ground, motionless.  
"Is he alright?" Brittany asked, crouching down beside him. The Doctor pulled the greatcoat open and grimaced.  
"Three bullets to the chest? Yeah, he should be fine," he said with a shrug. Turning around, he shouted, "Lora! You have medical training don't you?" She nodded slowly. "Well, we could use your help over here." She hesitated for a second, but saw the Doctor's insistent grin, and walked over to him after a moment's deliberation. Pierre, not wanting to be left alone, followed her. Lora crouched down next to Jack, and took his wrist. She searched around for a pulse, before looking at the Doctor with a shake of her head.  
"I'm sorry," she said sadly. "But he's dead." Much to her surprise, the Doctor gave an indifferent shrug. "I think we should go now," she muttered, glancing at where Freda laid, eyes closed, seemingly asleep. She continued, louder. "We should continue with our plan. The least we can do is to prevent more deaths."  
"Should, should, should," the Doctor grumbled. "We should do this; we should do that. There is a difference between what we should do and, what we actually do." Lora stared at him.  
"So you're just going to sit here and do nothing?" she asked, her voice laden with disbelief.  
"Not nothing," the Doctor replied harshly. "I'm never doing nothing. I'm waiting."  
It was Brittany's turn to stare at him. "For what?" Jack suddenly sat bolt upright with a loud intake of breath. His hands clawed upright, and the Doctor let Brittany and Lora fuss over him. He was content to watch their expressions of surprise when the captain came back to life.  
"Waiting for that," he muttered, watching as Jack blinked and looked around the room with unfocused eyes for a few seconds.  
"Whoa!" Jack exclaimed, dragging himself to his feet with help from Lora. He rubbed his head and tried to keep his balance. "I wish people would stop doing that." He looked at the Doctor with a smile. "Guns, hey?" he said, grinning.  
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Your gun, if I might add," he pointed out. Jack rolled his eyes, and retrieved his revolver, tucking it back inside his coat. The Doctor watched the captain with a look of disbelief as he absently rubbed at an itch just above his left hip. He felt something odd, and glanced down. There was a small, circular hole in his coat. Holding it up to his eye, he stuck his finger through the hole and waggled it around a bit.  
"Oh, look at that!" he grumbled sadly. "I'm going to have to get that fixed now."  
"Doctor!" The Time Lord turned around and gave Brittany an irritated look, annoyed with her outburst.  
"What?" he shot back at her.  
She pointed at his itch. "You're bleeding!"  
"Hmm?" He pulled his coat out of the way, and looked at the small wound in his side. "Oh no! I'll have to fix that too." He fingered the hole in his suit with a frown. "This is why I hate guns! They just ruin your best clothing." He gave the wound a little prod. "I suppose that is kind of bad too."  
Brittany stared at him, mouth open. "You're not even worried?" she burst out. "You've been shot, and you're not even worried?"  
The Doctor shrugged indifferently. "I've been shot before. It's not that bad," he said in an unhurried tone. "Besides, it only just clipped me. Put more of a hole in my coat. That coat is one-of-a-kind," he muttered to himself. Turning his back to the astonished Brittany, he waved to Jack, and called out, "Captain! You still up for that run."  
Jack gave an extravagant salute. "Yes sir!" he answered with a smile. "I'm doing it for that coffee though."  
"Sure you are," the Doctor laughed. "I know you'll enjoy it though." Brittany rolled her eyes.  
"You two done?" she asked haughtily. Jack and the Doctor both nodded and mumbled unintelligible noises of apology. "Are we ever going to use this plan that you've meticulously thought out? Or should we just sit here?" Just as she finished speaking, Pierre backed into her. She spun around to tell him off, but gasped and jumped backwards as one of the creatures swiped at her.  
"Well there goes that plan," Jack muttered to the Doctor.  
The Time Lord reached into his pocket. "Not yet." He withdrew his flashlight. "Jack, grab Pierre and run." The captain started to protest, but the Doctor held up a hand. "Don't argue, go!" He shouted the last word, and pushed past Jack and started to give Brittany instructions. The captain hesitated for the fraction of a second, before sprinting across the room towards Pierre. The man was cowering in front of an advancing creature, not able to move out of sheer terror. Jack grabbed his shoulder, and hauled him out of the way.  
"Run!" he shouted as he dragged Pierre towards the passage that would lead back to the chamber with the glow bugs in it.  
The Doctor watched with satisfaction as most of the shadow creatures turned to follow Jack and Pierre. He hadn't been expecting his plan to work. This creature was showing itself to be more intelligent than he had initially thought, but yet it was still chasing after the bait. He glanced across the room at Brittany, and she gave him a little nod when she noticed his attention. She mouthed two words to him. I'm ready. The Doctor turned away from her, and immediately ducked as a creature lashed out with a clawed hand.  
"Brittany, do it now!" he shouted desperately, flicking his torch on. The creature in front of him shrieked and retreated as the light tore a hole through its arm. There was a bright orange flare to his right, and Brittany ran into his field of vision, flames leaping out from the aerosol can in her hand.  
"It's running out!" she shouted, the monsters leaping away from the flames.  
The Doctor shone the light over her head, catching a monster that was lunging towards her in the face. It roared with pain, and ran down the closest exit; the passage that Jack and Pierre were running down. "Almost there!" the Time Lord shouted, using his flashlight to drive the creatures towards the tunnel mouth. When it was apparent they had nowhere else to go, the remaining monsters turned and disappeared down the dark passage. Brittany laughed and gave the Doctor a hi-five.  
"Good team Brittany!" he shouted happily, jamming his hands in his coat pockets. He glanced around at Lora, who was standing in the middle of the room, seemingly forgotten. The guide folded her arms and bit her lip.  
"We should probably follow them," she suggested with a sigh. Pushing past the Doctor, she began heading down the passage the monsters had taken. The Time Lord shrugged.  
"I'm fine with that," he said, clapping Brittany on the shoulder and starting after the guide. "Lead on," he called out cheerfully. "Allons y!"

Jack pounded down the passageway, his feet beating out a dull rhythm. His hand was latched around Pierre's wrist, the curly-haired man being dragged behind him. Trust the Doctor to think of a hair-brained scheme like this. The tunnel seemed longer than he originally thought it was. Finally, there was a glow of light ahead. "Almost there," he panted. Pierre grunted in reply. Jack ducked under a stalactite, and burst out into the brightly lit chamber. He let go of Pierre, who instantly collapsed to the floor, and leaned against the wall, trying to get his breath back. There was no sign of the creatures when he glanced over at the tunnel entrance. The only thing he could do now was wait for the Doctor to finish the second part of the plan. He walked over to where Pierre sat, and threw himself to the ground next to the dark-skinned man.  
"You alright?" he asked with a friendly smile.  
Pierre nodded slowly. "I think so," he said. Then he grinned widely. "I've never run so much in my life." Jack grinned right back at him. Pierre sighed and looked at the ceiling. "That was … well, amazing," he said after a long silence. "If someone had told me to run that much a few hours ago, I would have told them to get lost. But now? I'm ready to do it again." Jack stood up, and quickly checked around the room.  
"That's just adrenaline," he chuckled, sticking one of his hands in a pocket. "It'll wear off after a while. Then you'll wish you hadn't run that much." He frowned, and dug a couple of coins out of his coat. "Tell you what, after we get out of here, how about you go buy yourself a pizza." He flicked the coins to Pierre, who deftly caught them, and counted the money.  
"This is forty credits!" he exclaimed, looking at Jack dumbfounded. He checked the coins again. "And in hard currency as well. I haven't seen a coin in years." Jack frowned.  
"Really?" he said, pulling a few more coins out of his pocket and inspecting them closely. "Oh. Well, all I have is coins, so you'll have to make do. And don't argue. It's only forty credits, plenty more where – hold on, can you hear that?" He stuck the rest of the coins back in his pocket, and looked down the passage. There was now a faint glow coming from it, as if there were two people carrying flashlights. And one person carrying a flamethrower.  
"Get back!" Jack shouted, and Pierre scrambled to his feet. The two backed away from the tunnel as a mass of dark creatures thundered towards them. "This is the moment when I wish the Doctor's plan hadn't worked," the captain muttered. "That light better kill them, or I will strangle the Doctor personally."


	11. Fire and Sun

Brittany and Lora struggled to keep up with the Doctor as he pounded down the tunnel. "They're turning back!" he shouted, pulling out his flashlight. "They know what we're trying to do and they're coming back this way!"  
"How can you see anything in this light?" Brittany asked, but the Doctor didn't answer. He was busy pulling his flashlight apart, discarding pieces of metal and plastic along the way. "Doctor, are you even listening to me?"  
Another piece of metal clattered to the floor. "These things never – what?" The Time Lord slowed and looked at Brittany. "Did you say something?"  
She shook her head, and pointed past him. "No. Just keep running." He gave a shrug, and sped up again, his sonic screwdriver appearing in his hand. He held it against the remains of the flashlight, and pressed the button. After a few seconds, he stopped and ripped a few more slivers of metal off the torch. Satisfied, he tucked his screwdriver away and experimentally flipped the flashlight around in his hand. Much to Brittany's utter surprise, the Doctor ran faster.  
"How is that even possible?" she muttered to herself, realizing she was falling behind. Raising her voice, she called out, "Doctor! Slow down!" The Time Lord skidded to a halt, and remained still for the five seconds it took for the two humans to catch up to him. Then he was running off again, much to their dismay.

Jack stared in disbelief as the creatures turned away from the opening of the tunnel, and milled around uncertainly. They obviously knew the light would hurt them, but were unwilling to head back the way they came. Pierre took a step forward. "It's not working," he breathed. "The plan isn't going to work."  
Jack shook his head. "Well, we better think of a plan B. Quickly too, or the Doctor is going to be toast," he said, biting his lip. "If we could attract their attention somehow, that might give the others enough time to work something out." Pierre prodded him in the shoulder.  
"That idea is not going to work. Look." Jack looked up from his musings, and frowned as the creatures disappeared back up the tunnel.  
"Lets just hope the Doctor can think of something in time," he said, a rueful smile on his face. Pierre gave him a distressed look. "What is it?" the captain asked.  
Pierre shook his head, and gave a worried chuckle. "It's just that I never would have thought this would ever happen to me," he said. "This is the kind of thing that always happens to someone else. You hear about it on the news and things, but never expect to be thrown into a situation like this."  
Jack shrugged. "Welcome to my life," he grumbled. He opened his mouth to say something else, but paused at the last second. Pierre looked at his strange expression.  
"What?" he asked as Jack snapped his mouth shut. The captain held a finger to his lips, head cocked to the side, listing intently.  
He slowly spun around in a circle. "Can you hear that?" he whispered, finger still pressed over his mouth.  
Pierre watched him warily. "Hear what?" Jack hissed for him to be quiet, still spinning around. He stopped and stretched out a finger.  
"It's coming from over there," he said, pointing at the elevator doors on the other side of the chamber. Pierre listened intently for a moment.  
"It sounds like someone banging on the other side of the doors," he muttered, turning to Jack. "Don't you think?" The captain nodded silently.  
"Someone…or something."

"Lora, stay back! I don't want you getting hurt." The guide nodded, and stepped back behind Brittany and the Doctor. She folded her arms, and watched as they readied their weapons, Brittany with her makeshift flamethrower and the Doctor with his flashlight.  
"Here they come," Brittany shouted, holding the aerosol can out in front of her. The passage in front of them suddenly went completely dark. Before, a faint glow from the entrance chamber was just visible; now, all they could see was darkness. Well, the passage was completely dark except for the glowing red eyes that were steadily getting larger.  
"They're getting very close," Lora said, taking more steps backwards.  
The Doctor held up a hand. "Wait," he said quietly. "Just wait." The roiling mass of creatures filled up the whole passage, though it was possible to see the vague outline of spiny limbs.  
Brittany leapt forward. "Stuff waiting," she growled, the lighter in her hand sparking to life. Flames sprang out from the air freshener can, momentarily blinding Lora. The Doctor opened his eyes after a few seconds with a heavy sigh.  
"What is it with you and burning things?" he exclaimed, folding his arms.  
Brittany shrugged, sweeping the flames across the whole tunnel. "That sounds something my psychologist would say to me. Well, before I burnt her house down anyway." Seeing the Doctor's expression, she said, "Joking." He frowned, and motioned for Brittany to stop. He did, standing still as the Doctor took a few steps forward. The creatures remained where they were, their eyes locked on the advancing Time Lord. He stopped halfway between the two humans and the mass of creatures.  
"I'm offering you one last chance to end this peacefully," he shouted, one of his hands in his coat pocket, the other hand holding the flashlight loosely. "I can find some way for you to get back to your home world, find a solution that we can both agree on." A chorus of growls and roars rose up from the monsters standing in the passage. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, and scratched his head with his free hand. "You sure? Well, that makes it very simple for me. Very simple indeed." He turned around. "Brittany!" he called. "I am definitely not acting like your psychologist when I say I need you to burn them."  
He quickly backtracked as the creatures began surging forward again. As soon as he was out of the way, Brittany flicked the lighter on, letting flames lick at the stone walls of the passage. The creatures paused and retreated a little from the light, but didn't move more than a couple of metres.  
The Doctor looked at his flashlight with a sigh. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but…" He trailed off as the creatures began advancing again. With a fierce glare, he took a step forward, and turned on his flashlight. A wide, bright beam shot out of it, and the lead creatures shrieked in pain as it touched them. As one, the monsters turned and fled down the passage, the Doctor following them, the flashlight cupped in his hands like a weapon.  
"My god, how much can this man run?" Brittany moaned, jogging after him. Lora groaned, and began running as well.

Jack pressed his ear against the cool metal of the doors. There was a steady, rhythmic banging coming from the other side. He withdrew his head, and knocked on the door. The banging stopped, and there was an unnerving silence for twenty seconds. Then, the banging resumed at an increased pace, the metal of the doors buckling out with each hit. Jack and Pierre backed away from the door as it crumpled and clattered to the floor. However, what came out of the gaping hole was neither a monster nor a beast, it was a human with a heavy tool in his hand. He pulled the mask that was covering his face off and spotted the two men staring at him.  
"Where is everyone else?" he asked calmly, obviously expecting the worse. Pierre laughed with joy, and pointed towards the tunnel. The rescuer's eyes widened. "What the hell is that?" he exclaimed. More men and woman entered the chamber from the elevator shaft, but Jack didn't notice them. He had turned around and was watching as the creatures, shrieking and roaring, thundered towards them.  
"Oh Doctor, I'm going to kiss you after this," Jack said with a grin. As the lead creatures tried to stop, the sheer force of the ones behind them forced them out into the light. As soon as the light hit them, they instantly disintegrated, falling into thousands of pieces and dissipating into the air. The other creatures didn't have time to slow down and within seconds they were all gone. Jack laughed and enveloped Pierre in a big bear hug. He could see the Doctor standing there, a lop-sided grin on his face. But the grin faded, and he sank to the ground, the flashlight dropping from his fingers.  
Jack released Pierre and ran over to the Time Lord.  
He could see the horrified look on the Doctor's face. "I killed them all Jack. Every last one."


	12. Farewells

**A/N: Almost done now guys. Thanks for reading this far, and for anyone who doesn't like the formatting, all my next stories will be more spread out.**

* * *

When the survivors emerged from the caves, the sun was sinking behind the skyscrapers in the west, staining the clouds deep purple and red. One moon hung solemnly in the sky, half full and waxing larger each night. Jack inhaled deeply through his nose, sucking in the humid tropical air. Unfamiliar stars began to twinkle in the sky, marking the progress of evening into night. He glanced over at the Doctor, who was walking slightly ahead of the rest of the group, his eyes locked on the ground in front of him. Brittany, Pierre and Lora walked with Jack, smiling and joking about commonplace things.  
The TARDIS was sitting right where the Doctor had left it, in the shadow of a broad-leaved tree, patiently awaiting the return of her Time Lord. The Doctor dug the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, quickly jumping inside and closing the door with a snap. "Won't be a minute," he called out cheerfully, but Jack knew his heart wasn't in it.  
Jack folded his arms and leaned against the TARDIS, waiting for the Doctor to return. Lora and Pierre sat don on the thick grass that carpeted the ground, and began exchanging personal details. Brittany, however, stood still, and stared at Jack.  
After a long silence, she spoke up. "Is it always like this with you?"  
"Yes."  
Brittany sighed, and looked at the stars. "For so long now, I've wanted to get off this planet, and see those stars a little closer. But if this kind of danger follows you everywhere you go…" She looked at Jack sadly. "…I don't think I'd want to come."  
Before Jack could reply, the Doctor bounded out of the TARDIS, a long metal object in his hands.  
"Anyone want a cup of hot chocolate?" He waved the thermos in the air before setting to work pouring the sweet brown liquid into cups. Jack smiled and took a cup, sipping carefully at the steaming drink.  
The five friends sat down on the grass, just enjoying the moment. Finally, the Doctor spoke up. "I was wondering if any of you would like a look inside my spaceship?" he asked, pointing at the blue box standing innocently behind him.  
Pierre laughed. "I'll go with that." He glanced around the group. "But I don't know how we'll all fit inside though."  
The Doctor gave him a wink. "That's the big secret." He jumped to his feet, and pushed the door open to the TARDIS. "Well, come on then," he said with a wave. Pierre shrugged and followed him inside. He gave a loud exclamation as soon as the door closed, so Brittany and Lora ran inside to see what had happened. Captain Jack brought up the rear, quietly closing the door behind him.  
Brittany and Lora were speechless, astounded by the console room of the TARDIS. "Oh my god, it's bigger on the inside!" Lora exclaimed. The Doctor, having gone through this routine multiple times, mouthed the words along with her, much like he had done when Martha had first entered his ship.  
He pulled a mock expression of surprise. "Is it? I hadn't noticed." He dashed to the console and leaned against it. "So? What do you think?"  
Brittany was the first to recover. "It's beautiful."  
The Doctor smiled. "Isn't she just? And that brings me to what I wanted to ask you." He glanced over at Jack, who nodded for him to continue. "Well, if any of you wanted to, you could, well, come with me."  
Pierre stepped backwards towards the door. "No, I couldn't. I'm working to get a university scholarship in music, and I – I couldn't just leave. This is my home."  
Lora shook her head. "Someone has to stay behind and pick up the pieces. The police are going to want statements, and the media will want to know what happened. There still so much for me to do."  
The Doctor turned to Brittany expectantly. "It's a tempting offer, and I really want to take you up on it and all, but…" She swallowed and looked at the Time Lord sadly. "I don't think I'm ready to leave just yet. Sorry."  
The Doctor shrugged. "It's okay," he said, but he was clearly disappointed. He turned to the console and flicked some switches. "Well, I suppose this is goodbye."  
Jack ushered everyone out, and stood at the door with the Doctor. "We might see you again sometime, maybe," he said, smiling at the three people.  
The Doctor grinned. "And, that offer still stands, if I ever come back. No use-by date, okay? I'll see you later." He waved, and ducked back inside the TARDIS. Jack smiled at Brittany one last time, before walking inside, and closing the door.  
The light on the top of the blue box began to pulse, accompanied by a rhythmic groaning sound. The TARDIS faded away in front of the human's eyes, leaving behind nothing but memories.  
The three stood there for a few minutes, minds reeling from what they had seen that day. Then, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders for comfort and support, they walked off, leaving behind a slightly indented square mark in the grass, where it had been pressed flat by a heavy object.


	13. Back Home

The TARDIS materialized on the pavement outside of the Millennium Centre, Cardiff, and two figures tumbled out, laughing gleefully. Captain Jack was the first to come to his senses. He picked himself up off the ground and smoothed out his coat. The Doctor, still chuckling to himself, stood up and imitated the captain's clothing adjustments.  
Jack looked around. "So, this is it then."  
The Doctor yawned, and rubbed at his black eye. "Yes. And good riddance I say."  
Jack laughed. "There was really no need to attack me with a paperclip."  
"And there was also no need to smack a book into my face."  
"And that was not a good reason to stick a pencil in my ear."  
"I think old Jacky-boy will get over it."  
"I'm sure I will."  
"Yeah." The Doctor scratched his head. After thinking long and hard, he had made a decision. "Come here!" He wrapped Jack up in a big hug. "I going to miss you, you know that?"  
Jack smiled heartily. "And I'll miss you, you big old crazy idiot."  
The Doctor released Jack, and returned to the TARDIS. He paused on the threshold, and looked back.  
Jack waved. "If you need to find me, you know where I am." The Doctor gave him one last nod, then disappeared inside. The light atop the ship began to flash, and Jack watched as the TARDIS dematerialized, taking the Doctor – _his Doctor­ – _with her.  
Ianto suddenly appeared by his side, but Jack didn't even flinch.  
"Where the hell have you been?"  
Jack stared at where the TARDIS had been, before taking Ianto by the shoulder and leading him back inside the hub. "Out. I've been out."

* * *

**A/N: *sniff sniff* We say goodbye to good old Jacky boy, but never fear! I have plans for him to return. Hope you all enjoyed my story. I'm considering leaving you in suspense for a few days before I begin uploading my next story, but I'll probably get impatient or something.**


	14. Next Time

**NEXT TIME…**

A tall man brushed past Brittany, shouting an apology. Before she had time to reply, he was running down the street. His feet skidded on the wet pavement as he changed direction to dash down a side alley. Brittany caught a glimpse of red shoes, a blue suit, and messy hair flattened from running through the rain before he disappeared.  
"What a strange man," she muttered.

The man wearing the blue suit smiled at Brittany. He slipped his makeshift necklace off and threw it down. "Recognize me now?" he asked, grinning widely. Brittany gasped. It had been four years since she had last seen that man, but she would never be able to forget him.  
It was the Doctor. He had come back.

Brittany locked gazes with the Doctor. "Something is obviously going on, and you want my help." The Doctor ran his hands through his hair.  
"A rift has opened up just out of the city, and something has already come through. A voidic shade. Nasty thing. That's why I need to close this rift."

"Rift?" Jana queried, not taking his eyes off the Doctor as the Time Lord stood up.  
"Mister Piwanski, I know exactly what has been causing the disappearances, and you're not going to like it." The Doctor pulled a pair of glasses out of his suit and put them on.

"Doctor!" Brittany shouted, as something unseen latched onto the Doctor's wrist and pulled him out of sight.

The touch of a shade was the bane of life…The Doctor sank to his knees, feeling his strength waning as the shade absorbed his life energy.  
"No," he managed to croak. He never thought he would die like this. It was so cold. So very cold.

The Doctor and Brittany return in **Second Chance**.


End file.
